EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY-ASYLUM MINISTER Saxony's state PM: "Lines have been crossed"

Record ID: 142873

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY-ASYLUM MINISTER Saxony's state PM: "Lines have been crossed"
  • Date: 23rd August 2015
  • Summary: HEIDENAU, GERMANY (AUGUST 23, 2015) (REUTERS) POLICE CAR INFRONT OF FORMER PRAKTIKER HARDWARE STORE WHICH WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A REFUGEE CAMP ONLOOKERS SAXONY'S STATE PRIME MINISTER, STANISLAW TILLICH, TALKING POLICE AND WHITE VISUAL COVER TILLICH SPEAKING TO MEDIA MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (German) SAXONY'S STATE PRIME MINISTER, STANISLAW TILLICH, SAYING: "I have to say as the prime minister of this country that lines have been crossed, especially last night but also during the night before. I expect all people in Saxony to accept that there are people who have fled to us. We do not currently know how many there will be. But we do know that once they are here, they must be housed. And that is our human obligation. They are people. People who fled persecution, war and xenophobia and who came to us from different parts of the world. Who have experienced things which we do not know, maybe never comprehend. All of us in Germany, and for us here in Saxony, we have the humanitarian obligation to grant them fair proceedings." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (German) SAXONY'S STATE PRIME MINISTER, STANISLAW TILLICH, SAYING: "It is unacceptable, that asylum seekers, staff or policemen are attacked because of blind hatred. That is not tolerable." SAXONY'S INTERIOR MINISTER SPEAKING TO PRESS
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC2QAX882R392R54CQLYNZ8EZA
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Saxony's state prime minister, Stanislaw Tillich, condemned the scuffles between protesters and police outside a refugee shelter in an eastern German town near Dresdenon Sunday (August 23).
    After touring the refugee shelter set up in a former warehouse on Sunday, Tillich said that "lines have been crossed" during the two nights of scuffles against the refugee camp and called the attacks "unacceptable".
    He made the remark during a visit to the site on Sunday, almost two days after the riots started in the early hours of Saturday (August 22) and went on for a second night from Saturday to Sunday.
    "It is unacceptable, that asylum seekers, staff or policemen are attacked because of blind hatred. That is not tolerable," he told media gathered at Heidenau on Sunday.
    Earlier in the day, Germany's interior minister led calls for a crackdown on right wing militants and racists after a second night of scuffles.
    Just a day after 31 police officers were hurt in violent protests against the asylum seekers, a Reuters photographer on Saturday (August 22) night saw some 200 mostly drunk militants in Heidenau throwing fireworks and bottles at police.
    Some shouted "Heil Hitler".
    Amid fears of a recurrence, police on Sunday started to set up a security zone around the shelter, an empty hardware store. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel will visit the town on Monday (August 24).
    As Europe struggles with an influx of migrants fleeing war in countries such as Syria and Iraq, German politicians are worried about the financial and social effects on their country, the EU's biggest recipient of refugees.
    Germany, which has relatively liberal asylum laws, expects the number of refugees to quadruple this year to 800,000. Chancellor Angela Merkel says it is the biggest issue the EU faces, tougher even than the Greek debt crisis.
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