The video uploaded on February 19 showed an angry German mob block a bus carrying refugees from the war-torn Middle-East. The event took place in Clausnitz, a former town in the eastern state of Saxony, formerly part of the Communist GDR.
Having surrounded the refugees, the mob proceeded to chant “we are the people,” a phrase adopted from demonstrations against the former Communist East Germany. They also shouted demands for the refugees to “go home.” Amid the terrifying scenes, women and children can be seen startled by what they saw, one boy even reduced to tears, as they are escorted from the bus that reads “enjoy your trip” above the windshield.
The video went viral after circulating on social media. Politicians who have since witnessed the spectacle have expressed their shame. Saxony’s Interior Minister, Markus Ulbig, said: “As much need for a discussion there may be over the refugee question, I find it deeply shameful to see how people are being treated here.”
Police allege there were about 100 anti-migrant protesters outside the asylum seekers accommodation in Clausnitz, blocking access to the property with parked vehicles. An anonymous witness, experiencing the event first-hand, said: “It’s a disgrace, this hatred people feel towards people they know nothing about.”
Anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany has seen a growing number of demonstrations, some plummeting into violence, and a marked decrease in support for the once widely popular Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany. Many critics are comparing the unfolding events to behaviour witnessed during and before World War Two and are lambasting those who do not show the same welcome to refugees from the Middle-East as they did to East Germans after the fall of the wall.
