An eastern German city has imposed a temporary ban on new refugees in an effort to stem a number of recent violent incidents.

Cottbus, about 120 kilometres southeast of Berlin, has been rocked by violence from refugees and right-wing extremists since the start of this year.

Earlier this week, Brandenburg state police reported that two male Syrian teenagers were arrested under the suspicion of injuring a German teenager in the face with a knife.

The 16-year-old sustained non life-threatening injuries in what started as an altercation between Syrian and German school acquaintances near a tram station.

The incident happened just days after a group of three Syrian asylum seekers, aged 14, 15 and 17 years old, attacked a man and his wife outside a shopping centre, according to a police statement. The 15-year-old was handed a “negative residency permit” by authorities, effectively ordering him and his father to leave the city.

Cottbus, a small university centre with a population of just over 100,000, has taken in around 3,000 asylum seekers since German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Germany’s borders in 2015 at the height of the refugee crisis.