Germany reels as far-right ‘mobs’ go on rampage after fatal stabbing
Two straight days of protests in Chemnitz have degenerated into attacks against people thought to look ‘foreign’
Germany was reeling on Tuesday as xenophobia reared its head with far-right protests degenerating into attacks against people they claimed looked foreign, adding fuel to an already explosive debate over migrants.
After Sunday’s fatal stabbing of a German man, 35, allegedly by a Syrian and an Iraqi, thousands of protesters descended on the streets of Chemnitz for two straight days, some bearing insignias of the far-right AfD and neo-Nazi NPD parties.
Six people were injured on Monday as pyrotechnics and other objects were hurled by the far-right camp as well as anti-fascist counterprotesters in the east German city.
Police also reported assaults by extremists against at least three foreigners on Sunday, while investigations were opened in 10 cases of the protesters performing the Hitler salute.
“Of course history is not repeating itself, but that a far-right mob is on a rampage in the middle of Germany and the authorities are overwhelmed, is reminiscent of the situation during the Weimar Republic,” noted Spiegel Online.
The Weimar years were marked by the formation of paramilitary groups, such as the Sturmabteilung or SA, which eventually helped the Nazis to power.