Thread: Thousands in Germany protest racism, attacks on refugees

Thousands of people have gathered in the German city of Stuttgart to protest racism and violence against refugees. Tensions have heightened recently following the events that occurred in Cologne on New Year's Eve.

More than 7,000 people gathered in Stuttgart Saturday to protest racism and violence against asylum-seekers. "Whether it's cowardly arson attacks on refugee shelters or persecuting foreigners or sexual violence, we will show them the red card," the Protestant state bishop of Württemberg, Frank Otfried July, told the gathering, as people waved flags showing the symbol of peace.

German press agency DPA's editor posted this picture from the protest:

Debates on refugees in Germany have intensified after a group of around 1,000 North African and Arab-looking men sexually harassed hundreds of women in Cologne's main railway station on New Year's Eve.

Similar cases, though on a smaller scale, were reported from Hamburg and Stuttgart. Reports of incidents of sexual violence by refugee men have been coming in, causing a lot of resentment among the local population.

'Together against violence'

Meanwhile, Syrian refugees living in and around the German city of Cologne gathered on Saturday to protest sexual violence against women. The participants carried placards with sogans such as, "Together against violence" and "No to violence against women." DW reporter Brandon Conradis tweeted this picture from Cologne's central railway station, where the protest was taking place.

Organizers of the protests condemned the incidents of sexual assault on New Year's Eve in Cologne, when around 1,000 men of North African and Arabic origin molested hundreds of women.

Saturday's demonstrators said the offenders "did not represent our values and our culture." They also spoke in support of strong punishment for those who carried out the assaults and their deportation from Germany.

The protesters were joined by dozens of other people who participated in the demonstration to show their support for the refugees.

Police said an anti-racism organization called "Köln gegen Rechts," was planning a flash mob on Saturday. No counter-protests were taking place and no violence was reported from the scene.

Thousands in Germany protest racism, attacks on refugees | News | DW.COM | 16.01.2016

Migrants protest in German cities after 'revenge' attacks over New Year's Eve wave of assaults on women

Thousands of people rally in Cologne and Stuttgart against far-right violence

Syrian refugees hold signs reading 'No to sexism, no to racism'

They also hand flowers to passer-by in peaceful demonstration

Comes after 250 hooligans went on a rampage in Leipzig

Far-right thugs trashed doner kebab fast food restaurants and vandalised shops

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of German cities to protest against racism and violence that erupted against refugees after the mass sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year's Eve.

Rallies were organised in the southwestern city of Stuttgart by churches, labour unions and other groups to condemn attacks on asylum-seekers. Police estimated 7,000 people turned out for the protest.

Protestant bishop Frank Otfried July told protesters: 'Whether it's cowardly arson attacks on homes for asylum-seekers, foreigners being chased or sexist violence, we are showing it the red card.'

In Cologne, Syrian refugees gathered to condemn the Cologne sexual assaults and to thank Germany for taking them in.

Asylum-seekers were holding signs with the messages: 'We respect the values of German society', 'We are all Cologne', 'No to sexism, no to racism' and using the #SyrerGegenSexismus (Syrians Against Sexism) on Facebook and Twitter.

They also handed flowers to passer-by as they demonstrated against violence.

Others placed a rose with a sign reading 'No Violence' on steps at the Cologne main train station, where violence against women were perpetrated.

Syrian pianist Aeham Ahmad, winner of Beethoven Prize, also took part to the protest and played outside the station.

More than a thousand refugees are expected to join an anti-sexism protest outside Cologne cathedral, near the site of the attacks, on Saturday 16 January.

A group of male refugees from Syria handed out leaflets on the streets of Cologne declaring:

'We, men from Syria, condemn in the strongest possible terms abuse against women and the attack and robberies on New Year's Eve'.

'We thank all the people in Germany, both women and men, for all of the help they have so far offered us. We want to show ourselves worthy of your help. We remain united: Your values are our values.'


It comes after far-right thugs ran riot in Leipzig, destroying doner kebab fast food restaurants, setting cars ablaze and smashing shop windows.

Around 250 hooligans of LEGIDA - the local branch of PEGIDA, an xenophobic and anti-organisation - went on a rampage that evoked memories of the wave of violence against Jews that erupted across Nazi Germany on the Kristallnacht attacks in 1938.

The right-wingers broke away from a largely peaceful march in the eastern city to trash the suburb of Connewitz.

At one point the demonstrators, who threw fireworks at police, attempted to build a barricade in a main street with signs and torn up paving stones before they were dispersed.

Firemen had to tackle a blaze in the attic of one building set alight by a wayward rocket fired by the rioters. A bus carrying leftist pro-asylum demonstrators was also attacked and seriously damaged.

'It was naked violence that took place here, nothing more,' Jung said. 'That has been established and there must be consequences.'

Police said they have identified and arrested 211 of the crowd of right-wing hooligans, many of them with criminal records for violence.

'This was a serious breach of the peace,' said a police spokesman, confirming that several police officers were injured in the clashes triggered by simmering anger over the New Year's Eve mass sex attacks against women in Cologne and several other German cities.

Read more: Migrants protest in German cities after 'revenge' attacks

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German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble voiced the idea on Saturday

The conservative said Europe could 'raise a levy on every liter of gasoline'

He said the assaults in Cologne stepped up the pressure to find a solution

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Germany's finance minister is floating the idea of a European tax on petrol to help finance the continent's efforts to manage the migrant crisis.

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Germany and Sweden have allowed in large numbers of refugees but many other countries are reluctant to share the burden.

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Wolfgang Schaeuble