Refugee center in Bavaria seriously damaged in suspected arson

A refugee center in Germany’s Bavaria state was seriously damaged in a suspected arson attack Saturday amid rising anti-refugee sentiments in the country.

The incident occurred during the early hours of the day in Goessweinstein municipality of Forchheim district.

The fire broke out on the ground floor and spread onto the higher levels of the building.

No casualties have been reported.

About 200 firefighters were on the scene and due to a potential collapse of the building, they managed to put out the flames from the outside.

Over the past months, Germany has witnessed incidents of arson attack against refugee centers by anti-refugee people.

In 2015, over 90 arson attacks were reported at accommodation centers for refugees, compared with only six recorded in 2014, according to German police. Official figures also show that more than 800 attacks on inhabited and uninhabited refugee centers were recorded last year.

In April, a center for asylum seekers was set ablaze in a suspected arson attack in the town of Troglitz. The mayor of the town resigned in March following a protest outside his residence by far-right groups.

Germany witnessed a surge in the number of asylum seekers entering the country in 2015. More than one million refugees, mostly from crisis-hit countries in the Middle East and North Africa, arrived in the country last year.

The huge refugee influx has put the administration of German Chancellor Angela Merkel under domestic pressure and boosted anti-refugee protests in the country.

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