AFP•GETTY The refugee crisis has divided Germany for months

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Rainer Wendt said migrant camps were experiencing "proper power struggles between different groups who have different ethnic and religious backgrounds". Mr Wendt, the leader of Germany's police union, added that information about the extent of the crisis is being hidden by authorities to avoid scaring the public. His comments come just days after clashes erupted at a migrant camp near the central German city of Kassel, leaving 14 people injured.

The camp is made up of tents which house around 1,500 migrants hailing from around 20 different countries. The violence lasted "several hours" and three police officer were among the injured, local media said. Two refugees reportedly began fighting at around mid-day on Saturday – before large groups of Albanians and Pakistanis turned on each other. A third clash erupted in the evening, with a group of around 70 refugees fighting against another group of about 300. Police were eventually able to restore order to the camp using tear gas but made no arrests.

AFP•GETTY Violence between refugees in Lesbos, Greece

But Mr Wendt warned that segregating refugees by religion is not the answer to the problem. According to Breitbart London, he said: "We must not forget: in the home countries, most victims of Islamists are not Christians, but Muslims. "A religious separation is therefore not effective."

ANADOLU•GETTY Shocking scenes at a railway station in Budapest, Hungary

There have also been reports of child sex assaults and rapes at a refugee centre in Giessen, a town in the north-west of Germany. Around 5,000 migrants are based at the camp, where campaigners say unaccompanied women are "fair game". Hundreds of refugees recently used broken-up chairs and beds to attack each other at a camp in the port city of Hamburg. And in Suhl, a fight began when Syrian refugee began ripping pages of the Koran, Islam's holy book.

GETTY Refugees fight over a blanket at the Hungarian border with Serbia