In recent months, Germany has seen growing violence against refugees. While right-wing extremists have organized xenophobic demonstrations against refugees, the rate of the criminal attack against asylum seekers have also increased.
Germany’s interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said “We are witnessing a massive increase in xenophobic attacks on asylum seekers”. Remarking on the dramatic rise of asylum seekers in the country he said, “This year, more than 490 criminal attacks have been committed against asylum centers.”
The figure is a huge leap on the numbers of attacks on shelters for refugees in previous years. Germany expects 800,000 asylum applications by the end of the year.
Last year, 162 attacks on shelters were recorded by police across Germany. In 2013, it was 58 and 24 the year before.
Since January, Germany has taken in around 577,000 refugees – more than double the figures for the whole of 2014, when 280,000 arrived.
Meanwhile, Alternative for Germany (AfD), the German right-wing party, accused Merkel of “people smuggling” for allowing thousands of asylum seekers into the country on Friday. Alexander Gauland, AfD deputy leader, claimed Germany’s absorption capacity has already exceeded and accused Merkel by saying “Angela Merkel has operated as a smuggler.”
Following this, Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert made an announcement stating that Germany was governed by the rule of law and citizens were free to make legal complaints.