Wurzen

In the small town of Wurzen, on Friday evening, young Germans and foreigners massively clashed, leaving two Germans seriously wounded.

Five people sustained injuries on Friday night in violent clashes at a residence inhabited by asylum seekers in Wurzen, two of them seriously. According to a police investigations, about 30 young Germans clashed with a smaller group of foreigners.

Two of the Germans were gravely injured by stab wounds to the upper legs, police announced on Saturday. Additionally, three people in the asylum seeker accommodation in Dresdner Straße were lightly injured, police spokesman Andreas Loepki told the Leipziger Volkszeitung.

Police currently cannot rule out a “xenophobic” motive but have not responded to other reports that the migrants at the centre were armed during the confrontation, while the Germans were not. Already last year, police had to intervene in clashes between asylum seekers and Germans.

The skirmishes lasted for about an hour and triggered a large reaction by the police. Some 30 to 40 officers were deployed at the scene. Witness accounts say it all started with a verbal argument between the two groups at the park at the train station, followed by a series of assaults. The asylum seekers then withdrew into their residence in Dresdner Straße. „

“Subsequently, two Germans walked up to the residence, banged on the door, and damaged a glass“, according to Loepki. The two Germans were then chased by the migrants. They eventually found themselves surrounded by a group of 30 locals.

Probably twelve inhabitants, “armed with knives and clubs”, says Loepki, then attacked the unarmed Germans. In the ensuing clash, the two suffered knife wounds to the upper thigh. A taser was used, too, apparently. Several Germans then stormed the residence where further clashes occurred.

To keep the rival groups apart, all patrol officers from the Grimma precinct were summoned, and forces from Leipzig were called to Grimma. The officers asserted the identities of those involved on-site, but there were no arrests made.

The police say it is still unclear who had committed the attacks. This needs to be proven in each individual case, says Loepki. Witnesses are being questioned about the incident, he said.

State Protection, too, has become involved in the case, to probe possible “extremist and racist” motives.

Already in June last year clashes between Germans and asylum seekers in Wurzen led to a large police operation.

Back then, approximately 100 persons had congregated in the town’s market square, and had shouted slogans in front of a residence in Wenceslaigasse. Prior to that, residents of the centre had physically attacked two locals.

In June two locals had complained to five refugees who were playing loud music after midnight and disturbing the peace. In response to that, the refugees attacked the locals with wooden folding chairs, injuring them so badly that they needed treatment in hospital.

The next day, about 100 people gathered on the market square and “shouted slogans” according to the police.