Far-rightists hold ‘vigil’ in Germany for man who died after fight with Afghans
Far-right supporters have staged a “memorial march” in eastern Germany, where a man earlier died following a fight with two Afghan men.
Some 2,500 far-right demonstrators took to the streets in the eastern city of Kothen on Sunday, holding up lighters, commemoration candles, and flowers in a “vigil” for a 22-year-old German man, who died in the fight with the two Afghan men in a playground on Saturday.
Police said the deceased had suffered heart failure and that his death was “not directly caused by the injuries suffered.”
They have however arrested the Afghan nationals — aged 18 and 20. Prosecutors said the Afghan nationals were being investigated on suspicion of aggravated assault and causing bodily harm resulting in death.
Forces deployed to prevent violence
Authorities deployed police forces to help prevent violence during the demonstration in Kothen.
Neo-Nazi groups had earlier taken to the social media to call for protests in Kothen.
The city is located about 160 kilometers north of Chemnitz, where a similar incident sparked violent protests just two weeks ago.
“It is always a kind of danger — we just had Chemnitz — and so things could escalate and I believe nobody wants that,” said a local pastor, who called on authorities to do whatever they can to ease tensions.
“That’s why we are trying to appease all sides and to talk to people and tell them that it’s not the moment to let things escalate,” he added.
A far-right politician, Andre Wendt, however, reacted angrily to the incident while criticizing “establishment parties and the media,” which he said “have nothing else to do but defame worried citizens and silence critics.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel has previously criticized far-right parties for staging violent protest rallies over incidents blamed on refugees.
But she has herself been criticized for her early advocacy of an “open-door” policy toward refugees coming to Europe from conflict zones in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. While she has defended that policy in rhetoric, she has modified her stance in practice, agreeing to curbs on the number of arrivals in Germany.
Merkel’s 2015 move to allow in over a million refugees — from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan — set off a rise in nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiments in Germany as well as in some neighboring counties, including Austria and Italy, where anti-establishment, far-right parties are now in power.
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