Migrants have forced police to abandon plans to deport a single refugee from a home in Germany.

Two hundred asylum seekers described as 'mostly African' swarmed around three police cars dispatched to take their fellow refugee to an airport where a plane waited to fly him to the Congo.

Then they issued an ultimatum - take the handcuffs from their friend and set him free or risk 'massive violence.'

The incident took place at the refugee shelter in Ellwangen, southern Germany, pictured

Police said they had no choice but to free the man in order to avoid bloodshed.

Angry migrants hammered on the police vehicles so forcefully that all three were dented. The authorities said the officers feared for their lives and had to beat a retreat.

They had been sent into the refugee shelter in Ellwangen in southern Germany on Monday night to collect a 23-year-old man whose application to stay in Germany had been rejected.

Refugees sit on a bench outside the refugee centre at Ellwangen (file picture)

Police later said they were unable to send reinforcements because the journey time for them to reach the centre would have been too long.

A police spokesman said: 'They were so aggressive and threatened us more and more. We were forced to retire.'

Since the police had to abandon the operation the man they wanted to deport has gone underground.