Police in Germany deployed 100 officers as a fight broke out between far-right protesters and asylum seekers in the eastern town of Bautzen.

About 80 young German men and women and 20 migrants were involved in the trouble in a market square.

"Witnesses reported seeing bottles thrown and physical injuries," a police spokesman said, adding: "Information available suggests that the asylum seekers had sparked the fight."

Police also said that young migrant men had thrown bottles and wooden slats at the officers.

As the fight subsided, the German protesters, chanting nationalist slogans, split into smaller groups and followed the migrants as they withdrew to a refugee shelter.


Police formed a cordon to protect the asylum-seekers, while three other shelters were provided with extra security overnight.

Image: Police officers near a refugee shelter in Bautzen

Later, police said an ambulance that had been called after an 18-year-old Moroccan was found with a gash on his arm was pelted with stones by the far-right demonstrators.

It is not the first time that anti-refugee sentiment has been expressed in Bautzen.

In February, there was cheering when a hotel being converted into a refugee shelter caught fire.

A few days before that, far-right protesters stopped refugees from getting off a coach in the eastern town of Clausnitz.

Germany's President, Joachim Gauck, was booed while on a visit to Bautzen in March.

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Tension has risen since about a million asylum seekers arrived in the country.

There were nearly 1,000 crimes targeting refugee shelters last year, according to official statistics - a five-fold increase.

Earlier this month, an anti-immigration, nationalist group beat Chancellor Angela Merkel's party in a state election.

Mrs Merkel - criticised for her open-door policy - has this week called on blue-chip companies to do more to integrate refugees into the workforce.

The number hired so far is just over 100.

But the firms said many refugees needed better German language skills, could not prove their qualifications, and were unsure how long they would be allowed to stay in the country.