August 24, 2015

Refugees Welcome vs. Asylum for All?

editor:	Gurmeet Singh

If you’d heard of Heidenau before this weekend, chances are you’re either from there or you’ve seen it on your way out of Dresden. Lying 13km or so outside the state capital, the quiet Saxon town has rarely, if ever, been the centre of a national attention, let alone a national debate. Then came the weekend.

A warehouse, unused for two years, formerly a large hardware store, was to be the site of a temporary shelter for incoming asylum seekers. This item of news would be of interest itself, claimed Die Zeit, but no one has been concerned with the appropriateness of the site, nor have the plans for potentially further asylum seekers been discussed; everyone has been talking about the riots.

Since Friday evening, protestors have lined the main street of Heidenau, demonstrating against the arrival of approximately 600 asylum seekers. The first busload, thought to contain about 250 migrants arrived on Satuday morning; a parallel NPD demonstration took place in the street. Die Zeit reports that by the time the migrants had been ushered into the warehouse, behind police buses, the riots had begun.

Bottles and stones flew, as somewhere between 150 and 200 demonstrators against the stopgap asylum shelter clashed with about 170 police. The police retaliated with batons. Reuters reports that many of the demonstrators were drunk, and in the melee, many were hurt – police included, one seriously.

A counter-demonstration was also held – which is heartening – and drew up to 100 people protesting against right-wing extremism.

Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maiziere told the public broadcaster ZDF: "this is unsavoury and unworthy of our country…Everyone who thinks like that should try just for a moment to put themselves into the situation of the refugees. We will bring the full force of the law against anyone who takes such action".

Many of the asylum seekers are reportedly from Iraq and Syria. Germany has seen an increase in asylum applications this year, with over 75,000 lodged already – already more than the total number lodged in 2014.

Heidenau shouldn’t only be known for these anti-asylum riots. The NPD and other right-wing forces will attempt to capitalise on xenophobic fears as well as more neutral anxieties regarding immigration; however, it’s important to recognise that the state of Saxony is attempting to provide for asylum-seekers, albeit in a warehouse whose suitability should surely be assessed. Secondly, the counter-demonstration held to welcome the asylum seekers represents a growing trend across Germany and the Continent, especially in smaller towns, to make support for refugees and asylum seekers visible – to overcome easy hatred, simplistic notions of ethnicity and entitlement, nationalism and blood – and opt instead for strength, solidarity and kindness.

Image: © Arno Burgi / dpa