Two new attacks hit refugee centres in Germany

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.

Brandenburg state police believe the fire was deliberately started, deeming claims of a technical fault unlikely.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday will visit a refugee home which was hit by violent far-right protests, her spokesman said on Tuesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Germany’s asylum laws are more or less liberal and hence, it will probably receive the largest number of asylum seekers, around 800,000 people, which would account for one percent of the total existing population.

Budapest said it would send in the police reinforcements to stem a record influx of asylum-seekers, as more than 2,500 people crossed into the EU country from its southern frontier with Serbia, days before a vast razor-wire barrier aimed at keeping out migrants is completed.

As she left the centre in Heidenau, Mrs Merkel said Germany was facing a “gigantic challenge” with thousands of migrants arriving hoping for a better life.

Far-right protesters had repeatedly demonstrated against the arrival of asylum-seekers in Nauen this year. Underscoring how tense the situation has become, refugee shelters in the country are being attacked nearly daily and politicians are warning of a rise in xenophobia.

The violence is just the latest in a string of violent incidents this year in response to the growing numbers of those arriving in Germany having fled war and instability in countries like Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan. A couple of hundred meters (yards) away, far-right protesters jeered and sounded vehicle horns.

Merkel condemned those protests as “repulsive”, though she also received criticism for not addressing the unrest until Monday.

Hollande and Merkel are pushing the rapid establishment of reception centres in overwhelmed Greece and Italy to help identify asylum-seekers and economic migrants.

For two nights in a row last weekend, clashes erupted between police and far-right thugs protesting the opening of the new center for refugees.

The attacks against refugees, which has nearly doubled to 202 in the first half of 2015, is also seen as intimately tied with Islamophobia, according to political analysts. Ignoring the protesters, the German leader thanked volunteers in the town for helping those in need.

Merkel was expected to make a statement after her visit to the Heidenau shelter, a former DIY market now disused after the “Praktiker” chain of stores declared bankruptcy in July 2013.