Thousands of anti-migration protesters have converged on the once thriving industrial city, in the formerly communist side of eastern Germany after carpenter Daniel Hillig, 35, was allegedly stabbed to death by two immigrants
GERMAN police have clashed with far-right demonstrators for the second time in days amid protests over a fatal stabbing allegedly carried out by migrants.
Demonstrators at the nationalist protest yesterday in the city of Chemnitz could be heard screaming and whistling in response to cops’ pleas for them to go home.
Migrants from Syria and Iraq were arrested as suspects following the murder of carpenter Daniel Hillig last week.
With tension simmering over Angela Merkel’s decision in 2015 to allow 1.3million migrants into the country, the killing prompted thousands of far-right activists to take to the streets to vent their fury.
Saxony state police said the march yesterday evening has attracted about 4,500 people.
Leaders of Germany's Alternative for Germany party and of populist group Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West wore dark suits and held white roses as they began what they called a "mourning march".
Several thousand people followed behind them with many marches holding German flags and posters of alleged victims of migrant violence.
Large numbers of police officers lined the streets while watching to keep the far-right crowd away. An earlier protest against anti-foreigner sentiment that drew about 2,000 participants, according to the German news agency DPA.
The opposing camps confronted one another violently on Monday shocking people in others parts of the country.
Germany's interior minister says he understands why people "are upset about the brutal killing" of a citizen for which two migrants face charge.
The Funke Media Group quoted Interior Minister Horst Seehofer as saying that despite the fear and anger, "there's no excuse for violence" in Chemnitz, the Saxony city where the slaying happened six days ago.
Seehofer's tough stance on migration has put him at odds with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, he stressed a message of unity as far-right groups prepared to hold more anti-migrant protests in Chemnitz.
He said: "We need a strong state and we have to do everything politically to overcome the polarization and division of our society."
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