Germany: police disperse far-right anti-migrant patrols

The police intercepted around 50 people, mainly from the Brandenburg region (illustration).

AP - Martin Meissner

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

These far-right groups sought to intimidate migrants who attempted to reach Germany across the border with Poland.

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Pepper spray, bayonets, machetes, batons ... It is a veritable arsenal that the German police discovered on the night of October 23-24, during their operation against a far-right militia who intended to patrol the along the border with Poland to turn back migrants seeking to enter Germany.

The people intercepted were known to belong to the far-right movement Der Dritter Weg, Third Way, says our correspondent in Berlin,

. In total, around fifty people from the Brandenburg region, but also from Berlin and even Bavaria were spotted around the border town of Guben. All are now banned from staying in the region. Migrant defense associations consider the response too timid. 

Since the beginning of the summer, Germany has witnessed an upsurge in migration from the Middle East and

.

The European Union accuses President Alexander Lukashenko of using migrants to protest against the sanctions decreed by Brussels against its repressive regime. 

In this context, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned on Sunday that border controls with Poland would be stepped up, with 800 police already deployed as reinforcements.

And " 

 ", he assured in the daily

.

According to the authorities, more than 5,000 migrants have already this year arrived in Germany from Belarus via Poland.

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• Germany

• Immigration