Germany has been deeply shaken by the most violent right-wing protests in decades after the Aug. 26 killing of the German man in Chemnitz, in the eastern state of Saxony, for which two immigrants were arrested. Friday’s comments by Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the BfV domestic intelligence agency, aggravated tensions about whether politicians and the authorities are being too complacent in the face of rising xenophobia in Germany, where many thought the lessons of its Nazi history had long been learned. Maassen said he was skeptical about “media reports on right-wing extremists hunting down people in Chemnitz”, adding that a video circulating showing that happening could have been faked.
