BERLIN
A pro-refugee left-wing German politician apparently escaped a suspected car bomb attack early Monday in the eastern Freital town, raising fears of an escalation in far-right violence in the region.
Michael Richter, a local politician who led pro-refugee campaigns in the town, told Anadolu Agency on Monday that he believed Neo-Nazis were behind the suspected bomb attack.
“Threats have now become reality. They are trying to scare me but I will not give up,” Richter, the 39-years-old politician who is leading the Left Party group at the city hall, said.
He said that far-right groups had threatened him numerous times in the past weeks due to his campaigning for refugees.
Police said that an explosion targeted Richter's car at 12.45 a.m., local time and caused damage to the car’s body. Another nearby car was also damaged in the incident.
“The criminal police have started an investigation with the suspicion that someone caused a bomb explosion,” police spokeswoman Ilka Rosenkranz said in a written statement.
The town of Freital outside Dresden has been in the headlines in recent weeks with demonstrations by far-right groups, who want to block the municipality’s plan to house around 280 refugees at a former hotel in the town.
The surge in asylum applications in Germany has been exploited by far-right and populist parties, and triggered anti-refugee sentiments, especially in the eastern states of the country.
Germany received a record of 202,834 asylum applications last year, an increase of almost 60 percent compared with 2013. The government estimates 450,000 asylum applications this year.
According to police statistics, attacks by far-right extremists against asylum seekers and their homes significantly increased in recent months.
There have been 202 attacks against asylum seekers in the first six months of 2015, according to police records. There were 162 such attacks in 2014 and 58 attacks in 2013.
Police union chair Rainer Wendt called on the government Monday to establish security zones around refugee houses. He also suggested banning protests around these houses and refugee camps in order to protect the asylum seekers.
