Government - Germany Shocked After Racist Riots

German officials condemned a second day and night of xenophobic mob actions in an eastern city, while a growing far-right political party seemed to cheer it on.  And the person whose murder supposedly sparked the unrest would likely be disgusted at the rioters.

"What we have seen is something which has no place in a constitutional democracy," Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters on Tuesday.  "We have video recordings of (people) hunting down others, of unruly assemblies, and hate in the streets, and that has nothing to do with our constitutional state."

The ugly scenes in Chemnitz, once a exemplar city of the old Socialist order but largely overlooked by capitalist investment since the end of the Cold war, reminded many of an even earlier time - of the nazi pogroms and fascist street violence of the early 20th century.  More than 7,000 far-right thugs and football hooligans were angered by Sunday's stabbing death of a German man (more on him later) allegedly by Middle Eastern suspects; they hunted and harassed innocent immigrants in an orgy of xenophobic crime that local police claimed they were unprepared to curb.  The same local police spent much of last week denying they'd been infiltrated by the far-right after a civilian employee was revealed to be a member of an anti-immigrant group.

While Merkel and Saxony officials called for calm, the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party appeared to be reveling in the chaos, with high-ranking member Markus Frohnmaier declaring, "It is a citizen's right to halt lethal knife migration."  Another leading member, Andre Poggenburg, mused that a "sense of self-defence is hanging in the air".

Among those hurt were a Bulgarian, an Afghan, an Iraqi, and people who identify as Antifa who came out to stand up against fascist foolishness.  Police have opened up ten investigations into people who gave nazi salutes in the streets or displayed nazi symbols, both of which are banned in post-war Germany.  Josef Schuster, chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said it is "now the duty of citizens to counter the far-right mob".

Ms. Merkel's decision to allow some 1.3 million asylum seekers to stay in Germany after the 2015 migration crisis didn't sit well in the former East German states that have not reaped the same benefits of reunification as did the former West.  Right-wing sentiment and xenophobia had been growing there for years, giving rise to the Pegida anti-immigration movement and the AfD party which is now as popular in the region as Merkel's Christian Democrats.  Some of the asylum seekers were involved in crimes or terrorist plots, adding to fear and loathing of those who didn't see the bigger picture. 

Newspapers demanded that the government crackdown.

"The state can never allow our streets to be overrun by far-right mobs," said Bild daily, demanding the government deport criminal foreigners.  "For too long, nothing has been done.  That's why confidence in the state is crumbling.  That's why racists like in Chemnitz think they can do what they want.  Nothing could be more dangerous for our country."

Die Welt daily said that "the rule of law and police now face a test".  Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted that "where such hunting down of foreigners is possible, the rule of law has abdicated".

Spiegel Online said, "Of course history is not repeating itself, but that a far-right mob is on a rampage in the middle of Germany and the authorities are overwhelmed, is reminiscent of the situation during the Weimar Republic."

So, who was the German man whose stabbing ignited the trouble?  Identified as 35-year old "Daniel H." because of German privacy laws, he supposedly died trying to prevent the sexual assault of a woman by immigrant.

Except that police have no evidence of such an assault being attempted, despite the lie racing around the world and being repeated by far-rightists in other countries.  And Daniel H. wasn't a 'white' German; his father was a Cuban immigrant and his social media profile showed he "liked" anti-racism pages.

"I think it's horrible what's happening here in Chemnitz, and I hope that they know who they're doing this march for," said Daniel's "best friend" Nancy Larssen, also a Cuban-German.  "I think it's sad that in the media they're just saying that a German has died, and that's why all the neo-Nazis and hooligans are out, but the media should describe who died, and what skin color he had, because I don't think they'd be doing all this if they knew."