The death of a German carpenter in a stabbing that involved migrants from Iraq and Syria, has spurred mass protests in Chemnitz against illegal immigration and Berlin’s migration policy.
One of the migrants, suspected of stabbing a German citizen to death, should have been deported to Bulgaria back in 2016, according to a statement by the Chemnitz court made on August 31. The court said that Yousif Ibrahim Abdullah was due for deportation to the Balkan country, where he had first applied for asylum. However, this never happened, as German authorities missed the 6 month deadline for legal action.
The prime minister of the state of Saxony blasted German federal authorities for their failure to deport the Iraqi migrant, who had several previous convictions. He also promised to introduce a new initiative that will prevent “extremists” from “infiltrating society.”
The death of Daniel H., a 35-year-old German carpenter, who was allegedly stabbed by migrants on August 26, triggered massive protests in the eastern German town that lasted for several days, with thousands of locals pouring onto the streets, leading to unrest and clashes with police. The protesters demanded that federal authorities tackle migrant-related violence in Germany.
The incident started with a verbal confrontation on the sidelines of a public festival on August 26. The victim was stabbed 25 times and died in hospital. Two other men were also stabbed in the incident. The Iraqi and the Syrian suspects were later arrested by Chemnitz police.
Police have still not clarified the cause of the violent dispute and initially didn’t reveal the nationalities of the suspects. Later, an unknown person leaked a police warrant for one of the suspects to right-wing groups, which reportedly contained his name and address, as well as the names of witnesses and the court judge.