Tag

The sports facility was due to house about 100 refugees from early next month.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is expected to visit a refugee center on Wednesday, condemned the attack and blamed it on far-right extremists promoting a “disgusting” message of hatred.

On Tuesday, a suspected arson attack destroyed a school sports hall in the town of Nauen, west of Berlin, that was intended as a temporary shelter for refugees.

It wasn’t until Monday, after #Merkelschweigt – translated roughly as “Merkel stays silent” – became the top trending hashtag on Twitter in Germany, that the chancellor condemned the attacks through a spokesman.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was heckled on Wednesday while visiting a refugee centre, which has been the target of violence by neo-Nazi groups, in the eastern village of Heidenau, media reported.

In Austria, police said 37 people were injured, seven seriously, when two vans packed with as many as 90 migrants collided yesterday near the Hungarian border.

Condemning the violence, Merkel said it was “repulsive, the way in which right-wing extremists and Neo Nazis were trying to spread their hollow messages”.