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At least 18 protestors and 2 police officers were injured in clashes between far-right extremists and left-wing protesters in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, police said on Tuesday.
Unrest in the city begun on Sunday, after far-right extremists took to the streets, following reports on social media that attributed the killing of a 35-year-old German citizen to two migrants from Syria and Iraq.
On Monday night, around 6 thousand far-right demonstrators gathered in Chemnitz, shouting anti-immigrant slogans and demanding the deportation of refugees.
A counter-protest of left-wing groups drew more than a thousand people.
Saxony’s police department said it filed criminal charges against more than 40 protestors, including 10 far-right extremists who gave the banned Hitler salute.
About 6,000 far right supporters participated in Monday's demonstrations in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, including many hooligans who came from other parts of Germany, the interior minister of the state said on Tuesday.The demonstrations were triggered by the deadly stabbing of a German man that authorities have blamed on two migrants, and a great deal of "fake news" circulating on the Internet, the state official, Roland Woeller, told reporters. He said about 1,000 people participated in anti-right wing protests.Michael Kretschmer, premier of the state, said Saxony was stepping up its fight against right-wing extremism after a spate of violence and harassment targeting of migrants in the wake of the crime, as well as cases in which people performed the so-called Hitler salute, banned in Germany after the Nazi era.Germany ready to help Saxony state police if askedGermany condemns far-right demo in eastern city after fatal disputeRacism in Germany ‘must be taken seriously,’ says Merkel after Özil debateGermany's public debt could fall below EU ceiling this yearGerman foreign minister to visit Turkey next month
'Many far-right protesters came from out of state'