German police accused of leaking arrest warrant to rioting far-rightists

Police in eastern Germany are being accused of stoking tensions by leaking to far-right groups the arrest warrant over a fatal stabbing that sparked racist mob violence.

“It’s unacceptable that some police officers think they can leak things like this even though they know they’re committing an offense,” says Saxony state’s deputy premier Martin Dulig, calling the release a “scandal.”

Saxony, in Germany’s ex-communist east, has again become a hot spot for xenophobia after a knife killing early Sunday in the city of Chemnitz led to protests that degenerated into right-wing extremists hunting down immigrants in the streets.

Police on Monday arrested a 22-year-old Iraqi and a Syrian, 23, suspected of killing a 35-year-old German identified only as Daniel H. with multiple stabbings in the late-night altercation.

— AFP