Roundup: German police warn against xenophobic attacks amid strong refugees influx

The German Criminal Police Office warns other serious acts of violence given the strong influx of refugees in Germany, German local media reported on Wednesday.

According to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the authority is concerned that operators of accommodation and politicians could fall into "objectives of relevant crime groups with xenophobic purposes."

These results come from a confidential situation assessment that arose a few days before the attack on the newly selected Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker, said the newspaper.

The 58-year-old was stabbed by a jobless man when she was visiting a market in Cologne. The assailant attacked Reker while shouting words about refugees. Reker works at the social services department in Cologne and her work was related to refugees.

It should be assumed that the right-wing scene further aggravates its "propaganda" against the asylum policy, as the office wrote.

Meanwhile, the German Criminal Police Office also counts with new forms, such as the blockade of railway route and highways, to prevent the arrival of more refugees.

Even those are similar in appearance to asylum seekers could have increasingly been the victims, said the report.

The number of crimes with xenophobic background is increasing in Germany. The German Interior Ministry registered this year already 576 attacks on refugees centre, while offenders motivated by right-wing were were responsible for 523 of them.

Meanwhile, with refugee numbers rising, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's asylum policy has come under frequent criticism.

A total of 215 mayors from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia wrote Merkel a letter, in which they complained that all the available facilities were occupied and more refugees could no longer be accepted, the newspaper Rheinische Post reported on Wednesday.

According to the mayors, the lastest Federal Act to accelerate the asylum procedure is indeed a "first step". But this will not be enough to "reduce promptly and substantially" the further influx of refugees.

"Rejected asylum seekers should be returned quickly and consistently," said the German government on Wednesday, adding that the theme of repatriation is now at the center of the weekly cabinet meeting.

After more than 200,000 asylum seekers came to Germany in a month in September, the refugee influx is causing the Germans now anxiety. Several public opinion polls showed recently that Merkel has lost popularity. Endit