Merkel to visit town where anti-refugee protests staged

German chancellor Angela Merkel will pay a visit on Wednesday to the eastern town where anti-refugee protests erupted in violence at the weekend, after she came under criticism from other parties for a belated response to the clashes.

Dr Merkel will meet asylum seekers, volunteers and security forces in the town of Heidenau, near Dresden, accompanied by the state premier of Saxony, said her spokesman.

The clashes early on Saturday between police and far-right militants angry about the arrival of roughly 250 asylum seekers, who are being housed in a former building supplies store in the town, left 31 police officers injured. Smaller scale scuffles broke out the following night.

As Europe struggles with an influx of migrants fleeing war in countries like Syria and Iraq, towns in Germany – the EU’s biggest recipient of asylum seekers – have been overwhelmed.

This year alone, the country expects 800,000 refugees, equivalent to almost 1 per cent of the population, and politicians have warned about rising hostility towards foreigners. Attacks on asylum shelters occur nearly every day.

Disgust

On Tuesday, police were investigating a suspected arson attack on a sports hall in the town of Nauen in the eastern state of Brandenburg where some 130 asylum seekers were due to be housed. The hall was destroyed overnight but no one was hurt.

Many German politicians condemned the violence in Heidenau over the weekend and vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, head of the Social Democrats (SPD) who share power with Dr Merkel’s conservatives, went to the town on Monday to express his disgust at the “mob” attacks.

Dr Merkel did not respond directly until Monday evening, nearly three days after the attacks, drawing criciticism from some SPD and opposition lawmakers. One senior SPD member described her as a “fine weather chancellor” who preferred to speak out only when there was good news.

When she did respond Dr Merkel described the climate of racism as unacceptable. It was, she said, “repulsive” to see right-wing militants and neo-Nazis express their hatred and disgraceful that other Germans supported it by marching alongside them.