MAINZ, Germany – A German leftist politician who had faced threats for his work in support of refugees and immigrants escaped unhurt, after a bomb exploded outside his home overnight Monday.
The attack, targeting Michael Richter of the Die Linke leftist party, came in the the eastern German city of Freital, near Dresden. Richter and the leftist party are known for their work in support of refugees and immigrants.
Michael Richter’s car exploded in front of his house in Freital, but no one was hurt.
The Die Linke parliamentary group released a statement saying: “The perpetrator or perpetrators have to be swiftly identified and punished. The rule of law cannot stand idly by the increasing violence against refugees and against people like Michael Richter, who take a stand for the well-being of refugees.”
Martin Bialluch, spokesman for Die Linke, told Rudaw: “We have no proof about the perpetrators yet, but Michael Richter was often threatened for his work, by far right or racist groups.”
After several attacks and rallies against refugees and immigrants in the last weeks, the German town of Freital gained renown as a center of far right activists.
In April, a Kurdish student from Syria was shot by neo-Nazis in the German city of Leipzig. Eastern Germany struggles with rising racist and anti-immigrant movements since the unification of East- and West-Germany in 1990.
“The Kurdish community in Germany condemns the bombing attack against Michael Richter utterly,“ said Mehmet Tanriverdi, chairman of the Kurdish community in Germany (KGD)
“We feel certain that this bombing attack and prior arson attacks against refugee camps are carried out by neo-Nazi gangs. The rising attacks on asylum seekers and refugee camps are alarming and worrisome. The government must do everything in order to provide protection to the people and to hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions,” Tanriverdi added.
Kurdish Ahmad Ibrahim, who has roots in Syrian Kurdistan and lives in eastern Germany, said: “This incident is very concerning. In April they shot this Kurdish boy, and now they even blow up a German politician’s car. My family and I were thinking of moving to Cologne, the people there are way more open.
“They understand that we didn’t leave our homelands for no reason. We left because of war and persecution, and speaking for my family, we would go back immediately after the war.”
Germany hosts about 7 million immigrants and about 9 million German nationals come from an immigrant background. Most of the immigrants live in the western parts of Germany and in Berlin. Although there were always stronger far right movements in the east, their numbers increased in the last years due to increasing immigration from Africa, Syria and Iraq.
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