German chancellor and chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Party, CDU, Angela Merkel, speaks during a news conference at a party conference in Mainz. Germany, Saturday Jan. 9, 2016. Chancellor Angela Merkel聮s party on Saturday proposed stricter laws regulating asylum seekers after a string of New Year聮s Eve sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne blamed largely on foreigners. Merkel said the proposal, which will be discussed with her coalition partners and would need parliamentary approval, would help Germany deport 聯serial offenders聰 convicted of lesser crimes. dpa via AP
LEIPZIG, Germany鈥擳housands of far-right protesters rallied in the eastern German city of Leipzig Monday against the record refugee influx they blamed for sexual violence against women at New Year鈥檚 Eve festivities.
The crowd loudly vented its anger at Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom they accuse of destroying their homeland by allowing in 1.1 million asylum seekers last year.
READ: After sex assaults, German city braces for far-right rally
鈥淲e are the people,鈥� 鈥淩esistance!鈥� and 鈥淒eport them!鈥� chanted the followers of LEGIDA, the local chapter of xenophobic group PEGIDA, the 鈥淧atriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident.鈥�
A heavy police presence, with water canon at the ready, kept watch over the crowd of several thousand, and separated them from thousands of counter-demonstrators, as rain poured down.
While the rally stayed peaceful, police said some 250 far-right hooligans had thrown rocks and smashed shop windows in a traditionally left-wing student district of the city, before police dispersed them.
The key theme of the LEGIDA protest was the New Year鈥檚 Eve attacks in the western city of Cologne, where hundreds of women reported being groped and robbed by men described as Arabs and North Africans, in scenes that have shocked the country.
READ: New Year鈥檚 sex assaults stoke German migrant debate
Justice Minister Heiko Maas earlier Monday warned that 鈥渢hose who now hound refugees鈥攐n the Internet or on the streets鈥攈ave obviously just been waiting for the events of Cologne鈥� and were now 鈥渟hamelessly exploiting鈥� the attacks.
鈥淩efugees not welcome!鈥� read one sign, showing a silhouette of three men armed with knives pursuing a woman, while another declared 鈥淚slam = terror.鈥�
鈥淪ince New Year鈥檚 Eve, nothing is like it was,鈥� said one speaker, PEGIDA activist Tatjana Festerling, who decried the night鈥檚 鈥渟ex jihad against women.鈥�
鈥淎sylum-Mummy Merkel had barely delivered her New Year鈥檚 address to the people when in Cologne the first fireworks hit the cathedral and police,鈥� she said.
鈥淭hen these Muslim refugees started their wholesale terror attack against German women, against blonde, white women,鈥� she said to loud boos from the crowd.
Waving a sign declaring 鈥淪tate of injustice,鈥� 44-year-old demonstrator Lukas Richter said 鈥淢erkel is breaching the constitution and must go,鈥� and that 鈥渢he government must close the borders and return all illegal migrants.鈥�
He charged that the New Year鈥檚 Eve attacks highlighted 鈥渢he violence of foreigners in Germany that has existed for years.鈥�
One sign mocked Merkel鈥檚 鈥淲e can do it鈥� motto on the refugee influx, saying 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 even secure a train station.鈥�