Now even Merkel admits European refugee crisis is 'out of control': Thousands take to the streets of Germany shouting 'take your Muslims with you' after mob sex attacks
German chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured bottom right) said yesterday at an event Frankfurt that Europe was 'vulnerable' in the refugee crisis because it was not yet in control of the situation to the extent that it would like to be. She also said the euro was 'directly linked' to freedom of movement in Europe, adding that if countries did not allow their borders to be crossed without much difficulty, the European single market would 'suffer'. Meanwhile thousands of far-right protesters waved anti-migrant signs and flags (top) in the eastern German city of Leipzig following hundreds of sexual assaults on New Year's Eve in Cologne. Some vented their anger and frustration at Chancellor Merkel with satirical posters, whom they accused of destroying German
Now even Merkel admits European refugee crisis is 'out of control': Thousands take to the streets of Germany shouting 'take your Muslims with you' after mob sex attacks
German Chancellor admitted Europe is 'vulnerable' and said countries do not have control of the situation
Angela Merkel also said the euro was 'directly linked' to freedom of movement in Europe and if countries do not allow their borders to be crossed without much difficulty, the European single market would 'suffer acutely'
Thousands of people took to the streets of the German city of Leipzig to protest against the influx of refugees
Protesters chanted 'Resistance!' and 'Deport them!' and some had signs which read 'Refugees not welcome!'
PUBLISHED: 00:53, 12 January 2016 | UPDATED: 07:43, 12 January 2016
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has admitted Europe is 'vulnerable' because it does not have the 'order or control' it would like regarding the refugee crisis. Merkel said yesterday at an event in Mainz, near Frankfurt, that Europe was 'vulnerable' in the refugee crisis because it was not yet in control of the situation to the extent that it would like to be. She said: 'Now all of a sudden we are facing the challenge that refugees are coming to Europe and we are vulnerable, as we see, because we do not yet have the order, the control, that we would like to have.'
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Merkel said yesterday at an event in Mainz, near Frankfurt, that Europe was 'vulnerable' in the refugee crisis because it was not yet in control of the situation to the extent that it would like to be (she is pictured yesterday)
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Protestors from the far-right PEGIDA movement (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) march during a rally in Leipzig yesterday to protest at the increasing numbers of refugees entering Germany
She also said the euro was 'directly linked' to freedom of movement in Europe, adding: 'Nobody should act as though you can have a common currency without being able to cross borders reasonably easily.' Merkel said that if countries did not allow their borders to be crossed without much difficulty, the European single market would 'suffer acutely' - meaning that Germany, at the centre of the European Union and its largest economy, should fight to defend freedom of movement.
The EU has struggled to cope with a tide of refugees from war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, most of whom have landed in Greece or Italy before heading for wealthier northern EU states. Germany has taken in the bulk of them, more than a million last year alone. Some EU countries have re-established border controls within the passport-free Schengen zone, where they had been abolished, while efforts to share out the asylum-seekers across EU member states have floundered. Merkel said that, to preserve the Schengen zone within the EU, it was necessary to make the bloc's external borders more secure. Yesterday thousands of protesters waved anti-migrant signs and flags in the eastern German city of Leipzig as they demonstrated against a refugee influx they blame for a number of incidents of sexual violence at New Year's Eve events in Cologne. The rally was organised by LEGIDA, the local chapter of xenophobic group PEGIDA, the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident.
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A poster of Chancellor Merkel and one of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban reading 'Thank you' is held aloft by a PEGIDA protester
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Protesters chanted 'We are the people', 'Resistance!' and 'Deport them!', in reference to the refugees they accused of sexual violence at New Year's Eve events in Cologne
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A heavy police presence, with water canon at the ready, kept watch over the crowd at yesterday's protest march by the far-right movement
Many chanted 'We are the people', 'Resistance!' and 'Deport them!'. Others vented their anger and frustration at Chancellor Merkel, who they accused of destroying Germany by letting in 1.1 million asylum seekers in 2015. 'Refugees not welcome!' read one sign, showing a silhouette of three men armed with knives pursuing a woman, while another declared 'Islam = terror'. A heavy police presence, with water canon at the ready, kept watch over the crowd and separated them from a group of counter-demonstrators. Waving a sign which said 'State of injustice', 44-year-old demonstrator Lukas Richter said: 'Merkel is breaching the constitution and must go,' and that 'the government must close the borders and return all illegal migrants'. He claimed that the New Year's Eve mob attacks in the western city of Cologne - where hundreds of women reported being groped and robbed by men described as being of Arabic or North African appearance - highlighted 'the violence of foreigners in Germany that has existed for years'. The rally came as it emerged vigilante mobs have been attacking people from Pakistan and Syria in Cologne, leaving at least two in hospital, following calls on social media for 'revenge' in the wake of the New Years Eve assaults. The attacks were carried out by groups of young men, allegedly targeting foreigners, after reports Cologne police are focusing their investigation on asylum seekers and migrants. German police say the number of criminal complaints filed after the events on New Year's Eve in Cologne has risen to 516 - 40 per cent relating to allegations of sexual assault.
Attacks: Right-wing supporters attend a to protest against the New Year's Eve sex attacks in Cologne, as police reports that a number of Pakistani and Syrian men have been attacked by vigilante groups
Two Pakistani nationals were admitted to hospital after six men were attacked by a mob of 20 people near the city's main train station - the scene of the New Years Eve attacks - on Sunday. It is unclear what their condition is although the police are looking to press charges of 'serious bodily harm' against their attackers who kicked, beat and abused them verbally. According to the Cologne Express newspaper, a group of 'hooligans, rockers and bouncers' joined up on Facebook in revenge. The Express said the Facebook vigilante groups had promised an 'orderly clean up' of the old town centre in their 'manhunt.' Police confirmed one Syrian man was also hurt in an attack on Sunday, which took place just 20 minutes after the first, but is believed to have been carried out by a separate group of five men.
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Two Pakistani nationals were admitted to hospital after six men were attacked by a mob of 20 people near Cologne's main train station(pictured)
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Racial tension: Supporters of Pegida, Hogesa (Hooligans against Salafists) and other right-wing populist groups protest against the New Year's Eve sex attacks in Cologne, Germany, this weekend
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Too little too late? Police presence has now been heightened in Cologne, but many criticise the force's actions on New Years Eve, saying not enough was done to stop the mob assaults on women
The 39-year-old man was injured but did not require medical treatment. Police say they are still investigating whether the attacks were racially motivated and whether there was any link to the New Year assaults. Today, the minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, the German state where Cologne is located, admitted that people of foreign descent were responsible for virtually all of the violence on New Year's Eve in the city. 'Based on testimony from witnesses, the report from the Cologne police and descriptions by the federal police, it looks as if people with a migration background were almost exclusively responsible for the criminal acts,' Ralf Jaeger, interior minister from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia told a special commission on the Cologne violence. 'All signs point to these being north Africans and people from the Arab world,' he added. 'Based on what we know now from the investigation, asylum seekers who arrived in the past year are among the suspects.' Cologne has a significant first and second generation immigrant population and racial tension has heightened in the wake of New Years Eve.
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Mob violence: More than 500 criminal complains have now been filed over the events outside Cologne's famous cathedral on New Years Eve, where young women were sexually assaulted, raped and robbed
The city, which has a population of just over one million, has more than 120,000 practicing Muslim residents and the largest Jewish communities in Germany. Just over 5.5 per cent are born in Turkey. Over the past week, the police presence in the city has been heightened, but many called the efforts 'too little too late', questioning why officers had not been able to stop the attacks. On Monday, a regional parliamentary commission in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, whose largest city is Cologne, will question police and others about the events on New Year's Eve. The attacks on women in Cologne have also sparked a debate about tougher rules for migrants who break the law, faster deportation procedures and increased security measures such as more video surveillance in public areas and more police.
[h=1]Hundreds of far-right protesters rampage through German town, destroying ethnic restaurants and takeaways - hours after Merkel admits European migrant crisis is 'out of control'[/h]
Anti-refugee rioters have gone on the rampage in Leipzig, trashing Doner kebab and fast food stalls
250 holigans part of the local branch of PEGIDA known as LEGIDA set cars on fire and vandalised shops
LEGIDA called for the deportation of migrants and closure of borders following the sex attacks in Cologne
Germany has started sending a growing number of migrants back to Austria since the New Year's Eve sex attacks
Police have made 211 arrests in connection to the mindless vandalism carried out by hooligans in Leipzig
PUBLISHED: 08:50, 12 January 2016 | UPDATED: 10:40, 12 January 2016
Hundreds of anti-refugee rioters have gone on the rampage in the German city of Leipzig after a demonstration where they called for asylum seekers to be deported and their nation's borders closed. The attacks come just hours after Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted that Europe had lost control of the crisis. The right-wingers broke away from a largely peaceful march in the eastern city to trash the suburb of Connewitz. Doner kebab fast food stalls were destroyed, cars set ablaze and shop windows smashed by around 250 hooligans of LEGIDA - the local branch of PEGIDA, the anti-migrant, anti-EU organization which marched against the refugees earlier in the evening.
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Doner kebab fast food stalls were destroyed, cars set ablaze and shop windows smashed by around 250 hooligans of Legida
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Inside one of the doner kebab grills where some 250 masked hooligans attacked takeaway restaurants in Leipzig
At one point the demonstrators, who threw fireworks at police, attempted to build a barricade in a main street with signs and torn up paving stones before they were dispersed. Firemen had to tackle a blaze in the attic of one building set alight by a wayward rocket fired by the rioters. A bus carrying leftist pro-asylum demonstrators was also attacked and seriously damaged. Police said they have identified and arrested 211 of the crowd of right-wing hooligans, many of them with criminal records for violence. 'This was a serious breach of the peace,' said a police spokesman, confirming that several police officers were injured in the clashes triggered by simmering anger over the New Year's Eve mass sex attacks against women in Cologne and several other German cities.
'Rape Refugees stay away' was one of the banners carried during the march, the wording above a silhouette of women running from knife-wielding attackers, one of whom resembled a caricature from Aladdin. Earlier in the day Mrs. Merkel said; 'Now all of a sudden we are facing the challenge that refugees are coming to Europe and we are vulnerable, as we see, because we do not yet have the order, the control, that we would like to have.' She also said the euro was 'directly linked' to freedom of movement in Europe, adding: 'Nobody should act as though you can have a common currency without being able to cross borders reasonably easily.' Merkel said that if countries did not allow their borders to be crossed without much difficulty, the European single market would 'suffer acutely' - meaning that Germany, at the centre of the European Union and its largest economy, should fight to defend freedom of movement.
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Police forces patrol a street in Leipzig after the peaceful protest turned nasty in Leipzig
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The smashed remains of the front window of a Turkish snack restaurant after a demonstration by a LEGIDA
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A poster of German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right) and one of the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban (left), which reads 'Thank you', is held aloft by protestors from the PEGIDA movement in Leipzig
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At one point the demonstrators, who threw fireworks at police, attempted to build a barricade in a main street with signs and torn up paving stones before they were dispersed
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Around 250 hooligans from LEGIDA - the local branch of PEGIDA, the anti-migrant, anti-EU organization, targeted restaurants and takeaways last night after a peaceful demonstration turned nasty
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Hundreds of members of LEGIDA carried placards calling for the closure of Germany's borders and the deportation of migrants
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Members of LEGIDA hold a sit-in after being penned in by German police in the city of Leipzig
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Many of the placard criticised Chancellor Angela Merkel and blamed migrants for the New Year's Eve attacks
The EU has struggled to cope with a tide of refugees from war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, most of whom have landed in Greece or Italy before heading for wealthier northern EU states. Germany has taken in the bulk of them, more than a million last year alone. Some EU countries have re-established border controls within the passport-free Schengen zone, where they had been abolished, while efforts to share out the asylum-seekers across EU member states have floundered. Merkel said that, to preserve the Schengen zone within the EU, it was necessary to make the bloc's external borders more secure. The violence in Leipzig followed on from weekend attacks in Cologne by a vigiliante mob which used the social networking site Facebook to marshall young men - rockers, bodybuilders and club bouncers - to go on a 'manhunt' for immigrants. Two Pakistani men were hospitalized and a third Syrian man was lightly injured before a stiff police presence on the streets thwarted further attacks. It is unclear what their condition is although the police are looking to press charges of 'serious bodily harm' against their attackers who kicked, beat and abused them verbally. The Express said the Facebook vigilante groups had promised an 'orderly clean up' of the old town centre in their 'manhunt.' Police confirmed one Syrian man was also hurt in an attack on Sunday, which took place just 20 minutes after the first, but is believed to have been carried out by a separate group of five men.
[h=3]RISE IN MIGRANTS LEAVING GERMANY FOLLOWING COLOGNE SEX ATTACKS [/h]Germany has started sending a growing number of migrants back to Austria since the New Year's Eve sex attacks in Cologne shocked the country.
Some of the departing migrants said they did not want asylum in Germany after the backlash on migrants following the attacks.
Ten of the 19 men suspected of carrying out the attacks in Cologne are believed to be asylum seekers leading to anti-migrant demonstrations in Germany.
Most of the migrants leaving Germany appear to be from Afghanistan and North Africa rather than from Syria, who are normally accepted for asylum.
'The daily number of migrants being turned back has risen from 60 in December to 200 since the start of the year, David Furtner, police spokesman in Upper Austria state, told AFP.
Many of the departing migrants are wanting to go to Scandinavia. However entering countries like Sweden has become harder for migrants since Denmark changed its border policy.
Germany's decision to send migrants back to Austria comes as the Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann pledged to take tougher action at its borders to turn away 'economic migrants' in order to reduce overall immigration.
Around 90,000 of those sought asylum in Austria - a country of 8.5 million people - in 2015, around three times more than the previous year, ORF radio said, citing Interior Ministry statistics.
'One must transit to a Plan B. That means to intensify policies together with Germany to send back economic migrants and decrease overall numbers,' Social Democrat Faymann said in an interview with Austrian newspaper Krone published on Tuesday.
He said Austria needed to explore the legal framework for differentiating between those fleeing war and those who migrate for economic reasons.
'One thing is certain in any case: shortly, we will be more active at our borders than today. The Germans will also do more,' Faymann said.
Faymann has come under pressure from his conservative coalition partners and the far-right Freedom Party, which in recent opinion polls won the support of around a third of those surveyed.
Last month, Faymann said Austria should step up deportations of people who do not qualify for asylum.
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The violence in Leipzig followed on from weekend attacks in Cologne by a vigiliante mob which used the social networking site Facebook to marshall young men to go on a 'manhunt' for immigrants
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The peaceful demonstration turned into a violent attack on local properties, thought to belong to alleged migrants, in Leipzig
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Protestors from the PEGIDA movement (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) attend a rally in Leipzig
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A first aid team was on standby at the demonstration where PEGIDA supporters gathered to mark the first year of its local chapter LEGIDA in Cologne
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Lutz Bachmann,leader of the PEGIDA movement speaks to protestors during a rally in Leipzig
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Police officers dressed in riot gear standby as the large gathering descended into violence late into the night
German police say the number of criminal complaints filed after the events on New Year's Eve in Cologne has risen to 516 - 40 per cent relating to allegations of sexual assault. Germany's FBI, the Federal Criminal Office, said it had information that the surrounding and sexual molestation of women was a 'familiar phenomenon in some Arab countries.' Now it is liaising with police in all 16 states of Germany to formulate a strategy on how to combat it in future on German streets. The minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, the German state where Cologne is located, admitted that people of foreign descent were responsible for virtually all of the violence on New Year's Eve in the city. 'Based on testimony from witnesses, the report from the Cologne police and descriptions by the federal police, it looks as if people with a migration background were almost exclusively responsible for the criminal acts,' Ralf Jaeger, interior minister from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia told a special commission on the Cologne violence. 'All signs point to these being north Africans and people from the Arab world,' he added. 'Based on what we know now from the investigation, asylum seekers who arrived in the past year are among the suspects.' Cologne has a significant first and second generation immigrant population and racial tension has heightened in the wake of New Years Eve. The city, which has a population of just over one million, has more than 120,000 practicing Muslim residents and the largest Jewish communities in Germany. Just over 5.5 per cent are born in Turkey. Over the past week, the police presence in the city has been heightened, but many called the efforts 'too little too late', questioning why officers had not been able to stop the attacks. On Monday, a regional parliamentary commission in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, whose largest city is Cologne, will question police and others about the events on New Year's Eve. The attacks on women in Cologne have also sparked a debate about tougher rules for migrants who break the law, faster deportation procedures and increased security measures such as more video surveillance in public areas and more police.
Germany's FBI, the Federal Criminal Office, said it had information that the surrounding and sexual molestation of women was a 'familiar phenomenon in some Arab countries'
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Two Pakistani nationals were admitted to hospital after six men were attacked by a mob of 20 people near Cologne's main train station(pictured)
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A heavy police presence, with water canon at the ready, kept watch over the crowd at yesterday's protest march by the far-right movement
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Women shout slogans and hold up a placard that reads 'Against Sexism - Against Racism' as they march through the main railways station of Cologne last week following the sex attacks and robberies on New Year's Eve
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Cologne's mayor Henriette Reker sparked outrage by suggesting women should prevent sex attacks by keeping men at an 'arm's length'
