BERLIN, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Several people have been injured in Chemnitz after protestors joined the east German city's second far-right demonstration in as many days on Monday night.
Police Tweeted that some participants in the rally organized by the "Pro Chemnitz" group had injured at least six people by throwing pyrotechnical devices and other objects. Additionally, there were reports of protestors using the Nazi-era Hitler salute, which is banned in Germany.
Despite having known that further demonstrations were likely to take place in the city, police said their staffing levels had initially been insufficient to keep the situation under control. As a consequence, police officers struggled to keep the "Pro Chemnitz" protestors and a simultaneous "Chemnitz nazifrei" (Nazi-free Chemnitz) march to challenge the far-right mobilization, apart on the streets.
Like the first demonstration in Chemnitz on Sunday, Monday's "Pro Chemnitz' event was inspired by the death of a 35-year-old German in a violent brawl in the city. So far, police have arrested a 22-year-old Syrian and a 23-year-old Iraqi national on suspicion of manslaughter who allegedly participated in a fight between several "individuals of different nationalities" at the Chemnitz City Festival.
The incident is already seen to offer further evidence of the dangers of multiculturalism to the society for the country's far-right. Heeding calls from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and other organizations, several hundreds of individuals descended upon Chemnitz in an angry mob on Sunday night chanting "We are the people". They chased and threatened civilians with foreign appearances in what has since been described by some observers as a shocking example of uncurbed lynch justice.
The tumultuous scenes in the Saxony town did not go unnoticed in Berlin. Speaking to the press, Steffen Seibert, the official spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel, expressed dismay at the news of "witch hunts against people with foreign appearances" once again taking place in Germany.
By contrast, AfD parliamentary delegate Markus Frohnmaier praised the initiative shown by individuals who had joined the violent protests. "When the state can no longer protect its citizens, the citizens will go on the streets and protect themselves. It's as simple as that," Frohnmaier tweeted.
For German Social Democratic Party (SDP) politician Burkhard Lischka, the fact that a party like the AfD, which was represented in the federal parliament, could be seen applauding far-right rioters raised serious questions about the rule of law and societal cohesion in Germany. "There is a small right-wing mob in our country which will use any excuse to carry out its fantasies of violence and civil-war like conditions onto our streets," Lischka told the newspaper Rheinische Post.
The Chemnitz marches follow closely on the heels of the so-called "Pegizei" scandal in Saxony in which the state criminal police office stands accused of maintaining close ties with far-right groups and undermining press freedom.
During the latest demonstration of the anti-immigrant Pegida group in the regional capital Dresden, a protestor who was later identified as a member of the state criminal police office, hurled verbal abuse at a team of ZDF journalists filming the gathering. Rather than reigning in the aggressive individual, police proceeded to inspect and temporarily detain the ZDF team over the course of just under an hour.
