Germany clashes at Heidenau asylum centre alarm government

Lavrov said Russian Federation, which was not present at the talks in Berlin, wanted Germany and France to put pressure on Poroshenko to stick to Ukraine’s commitments under the Minsk agreement and to grant the rebel regions greater autonomy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government spoke out on Monday against violent protests against asylum seekers in the eastern German town of Heidenau over the weekend.

The government says it expects 800,000 people to seek asylum in Germany by the end of 2015. “It’s repulsive how far-right extremists and neo-Nazis are trying to spread their hollow message of hatred around a refugee shelter, and it’s shameful how citizens, even families with children, are supporting this spectacle by marching along”. Another five were missing.

And, following the wave of 7,000, at least 2,000 more migrants poured into Serbia from Macedonia overnight from Sunday to Monday, intent on heading north through Hungary to more prosperous European countries such as Germany or Sweden.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, who had travelled to the Macedonia-Greece border, called for an urgent new strategy to deal with the crisis.

Merkel and Hollande also called on the EU to agree on a common list of “safe countries of origin”, something that is meant to help speed up the return of migrants not in need of protection from conflict or political persecution.

Germany has received more than 40 percent of all asylum applications in the 28-nation European Union this year, and Merkel called upon other countries to “live up to their commitments”.

Merkel is travelling on Thursday to Vienna, where she will meet leaders of Balkan states including Albania and Kosovo to find out why “so many thousands of people are coming from these countries”, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

About 600 asylum seekers are to move into the former warehouse on the outskirts of Heidenau. “Its drones have not been able to fly because of repeated disruptions”, she said.

“On immigration, Europe is in danger of displaying the worst of itself: selfishness, haphazard decision-making and rows between member states”, Gentiloni told Illinois Messaggero.