German police kept angry rival protesters apart Wednesday during a third day of demonstrations in suburban Berlin over a new shelter for asylum seekers.
The conflict on the streets over a recent upsurge in refugee arrivals has spilled into violence this week. However Germany’s government rejected a call to summon state leaders for crisis talks about how to handle a recent upsurge in arrivals.
On Tuesday evening, the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) demonstrated near the newly opened shelter, a four-storey former school in a housing estate built in Hellersdorf, east of Berlin.
Leftist counter-demonstrators then blocked a tramline nearby. During a melee between them and police, one officer’s cheekbone was broken by a hurled bottle. City police said they made 25 arrests.
Pro Deutschland, an anti-Islam group that has previously demonstrated against mosques, held a protest about 1 kilometre from the site, but there was no violence. Police fielded 300 officers.
With a general election on September 22, mainstream parties are wary of the deep divisions on the issue of refugees. Far rightists want to expel foreigners, whereas many liberals favour friendly immigration laws.
Most refugees in Germany enter without documents and apply for asylum after arrival. There has been a sharp rise this year in arrivals because of the conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan.
Wolfgang Bosbach, a conservative in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, urged local, state and national leaders to hold crisis talks, warning that extremists would exploit the issue.
“The government is aware that the increase in the numbers of refugees is posing a major challenge for the states and the regions,” an Interior Ministry spokesman said. “We are working closely together with them and therefore see no need for a crisis meeting.”
He said 5,000 approved refugees from the Syrian conflict would begin arriving at the end of August or early September under a relief plan. Nearly 12,000 other Syrians had reached Germany and applied for
asylum.
“We take the concerns of people about the refugee situation seriously,” he said.
The 200-bed overflow hostel at Hellersdorf has been set up in a low-income area of the capital where divisions run deep. Hellersdorf is an area of apartment blocks built by the communist authorities.
In the 23 years since reunification, attacks on foreigners have been especially common in the former communist east, where unemployment is high and populists accuse immigrants of taking away jobs.
Germany allocates asylum seekers to hostels across the country while their applications are processed. They are not allowed to work.
On Monday, the first 42 residents arrived at the shabby overflow hostel at Hellersdorf. A pro-refugee Berlin group said six people moved out again in fear for their safety. – dpa