Mob chanting at bus of refugees in Germany shames politicians

Local politicians criticise actions of 100-strong group, who chanted ‘We are the
people’ and ‘Go home’ at bus carrying refugees to accommodation

Philip Oltermann in Berlin
Friday 19 February 2016 18.12 GMT

German politicians say they are ashamed after a video emerged of an angry mob harassing a bus carrying refugees as it arrived in the eastern state of Saxony.

The clip, which has been circulating on social media, shows a group of protesters blocking the path of a coach carrying visibly distressed asylum seekers, while chanting “We are the people” and “Go home”. The coach carries a sign saying Reisegenuss, meaning “travel in comfort”.

Saxony’s interior minister Markus Ulbig, a member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic party, said: “As much need for a discussion there may be over the refugee question: I find it deeply shameful to see how people are being treated here.”

The mayor of Rechenberg-Bienenmühle, the municipality where the video was recorded, said he too felt ashamed by the incident, while claiming that the protests were not directed at the refugees themselves. “This was about politics, not the people themselves,” said Michael Funke.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]