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A crowd is reported to have cheered as a building designated to house migrants in Germany was burnt out in a suspected arson.

The blaze in the town of Bautzen early this morning caused serious damage to the former hotel which was being converted.

Cops claim onlookers tried to prevent firefighters from tackling the blaze.

Officers said members of the crowd took "unashamed delight" in watching the fire.

Two drunken men were arrested after they refused to leave the scene, the BBC reports.

The converted hotel was supposed to house 300 migrants.

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(Image: AFP/Getty) (Image: Getty)

Stanislaw Tillich,premier of the state of Saxony, described those involved as "criminals."

The latest incident comes just days after protesters in Clausnitz - also in Saxony - blocked a bus taking migrants to accommodation in the town.

The protesters are reported to have chanted the slogan , "We are the people", which was used in 1989 during the peaceful uprising which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

(Image: AFP/Getty)

In a further sign of anti-migrant sentiment, police in the Brandenburg region are investigating the distribution of leaflets urging "absolute resistance" against "foreigner invasion".

READ MORE: Hollywood star Jude Law travels to Calais Jungle migrant camp amid fears over refugee children being made homeless

The leaflets, put through letterboxes in the town of Nauen, are the suspected work of neo-Nazis. They also give instructions on making firebombs and using explosives.

Anti-migrant protests have grown across Germany after the country absorbed a million asylum claims in 2015.