News / Germany

Immigrant facility set on fire in eastern Germany

Sunday, 28 June 2015 6:27 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 28 June 2015 11:10 PM ]

This photo taken on June 11, 2015 in Naumburg shows an immigrant Afghan family in Germany. (AFP photo)

Arsonists have broken into and set fire to an immigrant center in the eastern German town of Meissen.

Police said Sunday that the fire broke out shortly after midnight on the first floor of the building which was uninhabited at the time of the attack.

A Leipzig police division responsible for handling crimes committed by extremists is investigating the incident.

The police division is searching for clues to determine whether suspected right-wing extremists were behind the attack.

The immigrant center, which is about 25 kilometers (16 miles) northwest of the city of Dresden, is used to accommodate about 32 asylum seekers.

Right-wing extremists had reportedly been seen in Meissen the night before the incident.

Also, the anti-immigrant "Homeland Security Initiative" had called on its supporters to hold a "spontaneous gathering" in the town on Saturday night.

Last week, in the town of Freital, near Dresden, extremists held anti-immigrant rallies to protest the presence of refugees.

Over a hundred protesters gathered on Wednesday outside an immigrant center in the town, yelling insults at about 100 immigrants there.

Berlin has warned that such moves stoke xenophobic sentiments among the public.

Angry feelings toward immigrants have been on the rise in past weeks as the country faces an unprecedented influx of immigrants.

Earlier this year, another refugee center used to accommodate young refugees in the city of Hamburg was set ablaze by arsonists.

Official data show that in 2014, at least 175 racially motivated attacks were carried out by right-wing extremists in Germany.

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