German police call for segregated refugee shelters
After fights in emergency accommodation police seek separation on religious lines
Migrants play with a ball at a temporary shelter in a sports hall in Hanau, Germany. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
German police have called for refugees to be housed along religious and ethnic lines after a series of mass brawls in emergency accommodation.
Last week, a fight between up to 200 Syrians and Afghans in a Leipzig shelter turned into a running battle with residents using table legs as clubs. In Lower Saxony, police reported about 100 Syrians and Albanians fighting each other with bits of bicycles and other objects. Last month, meanwhile, police arrested 14 people after a melee at a shelter in the eastern city of Suhl, with other incidents recorded in Bonn, Dresden and Trier.