A group of refugees and dozens of local residents have clashed in a town in eastern Germany that has a history of racist incidents.
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Residents on Wednesday accused asylum seekers of taking over a square outside the central Kornmarkt shopping centre before fighting broke out.
The Netherlands is to return 450 asylum seekers to Germany because they should have requested refugee status there under European Union rules.
Police said the neo-Nazis were goaded before they began chanting “Bautzen for the Germans” and bottles and fists began flying.
The BBC said witnesses claimed asylum-seekers threw bottles and wooden slates after being asked to move by police.
Some 80 men and women, many described as far-right, fought with 20 migrants and refugees in Bautzen.
Later, some rioters threw stones at an ambulance, preventing it from reaching the shelter to treat an injured migrant.
In France, Police arrested three teenagers linked to Islamic State group around Paris in the past week as investigators probe the use of an encrypted messaging app to plot attacks in France, judicial sources said Wednesday.
Bautzen’s police chief Uwe Kilz said his forces managed to bring the situation under control and “peace was restored”.
“I’m shocked and very anxious about the escalation”.
Ahrens said there had been problems between far-right German youths and young asylum seekers during the last two weeks in the Kornmarkt square. “I sharply condemn the growing violence in confrontations between the various groups“.
In February, there was cheering when a hotel being converted into a refugee shelter caught fire. In March, German President Joachim Gauck was subjected to verbal attacks during a town hall meeting about the refugee crisis.
After police broke up the brawl, the locals divided themselves up into smaller groups and followed the asylum seekers back to their refugee accommodation.
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The incident comes as Chancellor Angela Merkel faces widespread criticism for an open-door refugee policy that saw around one million migrants arrive here previous year, pushing down her approval ratings and boosting support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD). If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
