Far-right supporters have violently clashed with asylum seekers in an East German town that has become a flashpoint for anti-refugee sentiment.
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Police reported on Thursday that around 80 men and women associated with the far-right scene descended on a square in the town on Wednesday evening.
“They rushed up to the police and refugees chanting “This is our Bautzen”, “Foreigners out” and “This is our Nazi neighbourhood”, Ms Kubank said.
In February, locals cheered when a fire broke out in a building in Bautzen that was set to be turned into an asylum- seeker shelter, sending shock waves through the country.
In March President Joachim Gauck was verbally assaulted by bystanders when he visited the town.
Since the arrival a year ago of 1.1 million irregular migrants and refugees in Germany, some areas, particularly eastern states, have seen a rise in anti-migrant violence as well as support for the anti-Islam AfD party.
Town officials said it was not clear who started the confrontation.
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.
As a result the chancellor’s conservative coalition has been haemorrhaging voters to the insurgent anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. After the clashes died down, local extremists reportedly followed the migrants back to their shelter, forcing police to guard the property overnight.
Clashes began and the police stepped in to stop the protesters and asylum seekers.
Meanwhile an ambulance sent for a 18-year-old Moroccan man, who was found with a gash on his arm, was also pelted by stones by the German extremists, said police.
Their presence drew increasing numbers of anti-migrant militants, apparently mobilised through Facebook posts, said the police chief.
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Germany’s federal police force says there have been 700 attacks on asylum accommodation so far this year, including 57 arson attacks. That deal says that refugee claims should be processed in the first European Union country the asylum seeker reaches.
