STREETS OF RAGE
Far-right mob clash with cops in German city where man was killed ‘by migrants’
Several people were injured mid ugly scenes in Chemnitz as angry mob waved placards which read 'Stop the refugee flood' and shouted Nazi slogans
HUNDREDS of far-right protesters clashed violently with cops in a German city when a man was allegedly stabbed to death "by immigrants".
At least six were injured in ugly scenes on the streets of Chemnitz as the angry mob waved placards reading "stop the refugee flood" while yelling Nazi slogans.
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Tensions were at boiling point in the east German city after a man was reportedly knifed by an Iraqi man, aged 22, and a Syrian man, aged 23, on Sunday.
The protesters lit flares, held up flags supporting neo-Nazi NPD parties and chanted historic phrases associated with Adolf Hitler's supporters including Luegenpresse, meaning "lying press".
Police also had to keep them apart from around a thousand left-wing protesters who yelled "Nazis out".
Officers in riot gear were forced to bring out water cannons after being pelted with fireworks form both sides.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel said she condemned the groups "in the strongest possible terms" and that Germany would not tolerate "vigilante justice".
It came after disturbing footage showed skinheads chasing a man of apparently Arab descent down the street with bottles.
Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said: "We don't tolerate such unlawful assemblies and the hounding of people who look different or have different origins, and attempts to spread hatred on the streets.
"That has no place in our cities and we, as the German government, condemn it in the strongest terms.
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"Our basic message for Chemnitz and beyond is that there is no place in Germany for vigilante justice, for groups that want to spread hatred on the streets, for intolerance and for extremism."
Protests erupted after a German man, 35, was killed following an argument at a street festival over the weekend.
Chemnitz police said they arrested a 22-year-old Syrian and a 21-year-old Iraqi on suspicion of manslaughter.
The eastern state of Saxony, where Chemnitz is located, has long been a hotbed of anti-migrant sentiment.
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Alternative For Germany, a far-right party, received almost a quarter of the vote in Chemnitz last year.
The opposition Green party accused Germany's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, of fanning anti-migrant sentiment in recent months and urged him to think about resigning in the wake of the violence.
Green lawmaker Konstantin von Notz told the news portal t-online.de that the violence in Chemnitz recalled events in other parts of eastern Germany during the early 1990s, when authorities failed to stop far-right mobs from attacking migrants.
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Cops were pelted with rocks and bottles, and police said 50 out of 800 protesters were involved in violence.
A Syrian teenager and an Afghan teenager were attacked in separate incidents but were not seriously hurt and a 30-year-old Bulgarian was also threatened.
Police are still evaluating video footage and called for any witnesses to the violence to come forward.
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