One thing you might have noticed if you’ve followed the short history of Germany’s migrant “miracle” is that citizens’ celebratory mood (characterized initially by the “sweets, toys, and hugs” Syrian refugees received upon arriving in Germany after completing the increasingly arduous Balkan route) has gradually been replaced by a creeping skepticism towards the asylum seekers and towards the “iron chancellor’s” open-door policy for refugees.
Just two days ago, we highlighted the following graphic from WSJ which we called “the scariest chart for Angela Merkel” (TIME magazine’s recently crowned person of the year):
And here’s a look at the political context:
Even before the Paris attacks and the subsequent bomb scare in Hanover, the tide was already turning in terms of public sentiment.
Put simply, it’s not clear that Germans understood what the numbers meant until they came face to face with the influx.
None of this is to say that there aren’t still large parts of the German electorate that support Merkel’s “yes we can” approach, it’s simply to say that reality is beginning to sink in regarding what it means to take in one million people in the space of just six months when you are a country whose entire population is just 81 million.
Some groups have been against the open-door approach from the very beginning. PEGIDA (which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West), for instance has regained much if not all of the momentum the movement lost earlier this year when Lutz Bachmann posted a picture of himself dressed as Hitler on Facebook with the caption “He’s Back” (read more about recent PEGIDA rallies here).
On Saturday, we got the latest example of social and political unrest in Germany when an attempt by leftists to disrupt right wing demonstrations turned violent. As RT recounts, “about 150 members of different far-right organizations marched through the southern part of Leipzig. They included the neo-Nazi party Die Rechte (the Right), xenophobic organization Offensive für Deutschland (OfD) (Offensive for Germany), and a division of the PEGIDA movement called Thugida.”
Things apparently turned ugly when protestant pastor and youth worker Lothar Konig, 61, showed up with his "loudspeaker van."
Here's more from Deutsche Welle:
In 2011, König, had denied similar alleged transgressions when resisting far-right extremists in Dresden.
The clashes on the fringe of a leftist counter-rally were described by Leipzig's Social Democrat (SPD) mayor Burkhard Jung as "shocking."
"That is open street terror," Jung said, adding that "criminals" had discredited important, peaceful protest against neo-Nazis.
On Saturday, the neo-Nazis had intended to march through Leipzig's alternative lifestyle district of Connewitz. But authorities refused them entry, citing safeguards needed for a pre-Christmas market and concert.
During the violence in Südvorstadt rubbish containers were set ablaze, a bus stop demolished and windows broken.
A police spokeswoman said masked persons in leftist ranks had attacked police "massively" during the rally by "a thousand violently-inclined leftist autonomists."
In the early hours of Saturday car tires and rubbish containers and the roof of a warehouse had been set on fire.
The Left party said one of its newly set up offices had been attacked by right-wing extremists, resulting in 5,000-euros worth of damage.
So apparently, the neo-Nazis weren't the root cause of the problem here although we're reasonably sure that the leftists would argue that any time neo-Nazis stage a march they're bound to cause trouble due simply to the fact that they identify which a movement that's had... how should we put this... a rather checkered history in Germany.
In any event, police brought out the tear gas and water cannons as protesters set the streets ablaze:
Elsewhere in Germany, anti-migrant sentiment is becoming readily observable. As Deutsche Welle goes on to report, "asylum seekers arriving at new container-style shelter in Saxony's town of Jahnsdorf were confronted by 30 people including six persons who threw stones and explosive crackers at their bus," on Thursday, the same day that the "children of refugee families were attacked by fellow school pupils in the town of Wurzen near Leipzig."
Because we couldn't imagine a more accurate way to describe the situation (and indeed we've been saying this for months), we'll simply close by quoting Aydan Özoguz, from the German government's commission for the integration of foreigners, who says he fears the country is descending into a "xenophobic abyss."