A Knifing Inflames Anti-Immigrant Hysteria in Germany
Hype about an epidemic of stabbings sparks two days of far-right violence.
The mob gathers.
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Riots broke out in Chemnitz, the eastern German city once known as Karl-Marx-Stadt, when far-right supporters went on a rampage after the stabbing death of a local man, allegedly by immigrants from the Middle East.
The riot was the latest in a series of violent incidents sparked by the perception among nationalists and neo-Nazis that Germany is experiencing an epidemic of knifings by migrants. Although the statistics don’t necessarily back up a sharp increase in these attacks, the epidemic seems real to a small group of people who are primed to take radical action based on information they receive via social media.