Women, children and religious minorities must be better protected in Germany’s migrant camps, the head of the policing union has said. Fighting between ethnic and religious groups within the camps has intensified in recent weeks as the migrant population has swelled.
Rainer Wendt, chairman of the German Police Union has told German media that Christians in particular are to be placed “under special protection” as they are being harassed massively by Muslim groups. Women and children should also be protected, he said, as they too were vulnerable, Der Spiegel has reported.
“You can only estimate the extent of violence” against women and children, he said, as they often gave no indication of having been raped or abused “for fear of retribution.”
Local politicians have rejected his calls to segregate migrants upon arrival in Germany. Roger Lewentz, the Social Democrat interior minister for the Rhineland-Palatinate told German media that “separation according to religion or even ethnic groups would be impractical” because of the large number of migrants following into the region. He insisted that the priority was to put a roof over the heads of new arrivals.
Likewise Ralf Stegner, Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in Schleswig-Holstein said: “You have to act sensitively in ethnic conflicts, but a flat religious or ethnic separation may not be the solution.”
Fellow SPD member Achim Post, deputy chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalian SPD branch added: “The main problem is not ethnicity, or religion, its cramped living conditions.”
Wendt has acknowledged the close living quarters the migrants are given, but insists that they are not the whole problem, pointing out that the violence is not new.
“We have been experiencing this violence for weeks and months. Groups fall out along ethnic, religious and clan structure lines, and go at each other with knives and homemade weapons,” he said.
Most acts of violence were perpetrated between the Muslim groups. Sunnis are fighting Shiites, both are fighting Salafists of various stripes. In addition he said: “Women are forced to cover up. Men are forced to pray. Islamists wish to impose their values and social structure.”
As well as recommending separation of the groups, Wendt has called for immediate deportation of violent migrants. “For those here who are delinquent and commit crimes, the full force of the law must be upheld.”
The Prime Minister of Thuringia has already been forced to enact a policy of separating migrants along cultural lines as soon as they arrive, thanks to persistent persecution of Christians by Muslim migrants.
Violent attacks have been flaring up all across the country as Muslim immigrants transport their prejudices along with their possessions. An Eritrean Christian and his eight months pregnant wife were hospitalised after being brutally attack by Algerian Muslims wielding a glass bottle.
And in Kassel 14 people were injured over the weekend when a mass brawl involving hundreds erupted between warring factions.
Simon Jacob of the Central Council of the Eastern Christians said “that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
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