Germany: Ex-airport Tempelhof Berlin Becomes Temporary Refugee Shelter

The city of Berlin opened a second hangar in the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport to house an additional 840 refugees on Monday. The hangars at the former Berlin airport are earmarked to house refugees temporarily for one-two weeks, until a better and more permanent housing situation can be provided.

Police Uncover Far-Right Plot to Attack Refugee Shelters in Germany

THE TELEGRAPH: The discovery comes as a leaked police report suggests far-Right nationalists could attackc refugees as well as political leaders supportive of them

Police in Germany have uncovered a plot by far-Right extremists to attack refugee shelters using “highly dangerous explosives”, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the plot following police raids in the Bavarian town of Bamberg. Prosecutors were seeking arrest warrants against a further ten suspects.

They are believed to have been planning an attack on two government shelters for asylum-seekers in the town.

Prosecutors said they intended to throw explosives into the shelters to spread “fear and terror”. » | Justin Huggler, Berlin | Thursday, October 22, 2015

Germany: Four killed, Four Injured in Suspected Arson Attack on Refugee Shelter

Four people were killed and four injured in a suspected arson attack on a refugee shelter in Pforzheim, north of Stuttgart, in the early hours of Tuesday.

Germany: Dresden Refugee Camp on Lockdown after Hooligans Target Inhabitants

A mob of 20 hooligans reportedly attacked a camp for refugees in a suburb south of Dresden, Saturday.

Asylum Shelters in Germany Struggle with Violence

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: There has been a rising number of violent incidents in German refugee hostels in recent weeks and concern is growing among officials. But some communities are finding creative ways to make life more tolerable in the asylum homes.

Two men are waiting for their lunch inside a drafty airport hangar -- one is an 80-year-old from Pakistan, the other an 18-year-old Albanian. A throng of people are waiting and the line can take up to an hour, but the young man has run out of patience. He climbs over the barrier and pushes forward, gets his food and then sits down at a table. A short time later, the elderly man addresses him angrily.

A dispute that began banally enough on Sunday, Sept. 27, ended in a mass brawl after the young Albanian hit the old man in the face. A security guard intervened and was able to pull the two apart, but three hours later, 50 to 60 Pakistanis stormed into the hangar and threatened the young Albanian with aluminum rods they had taken from their cots. The police moved in and were initially able to restore peace. Come dinner time, though, 300 angry Albanians had turned up. Some attacked the Pakistanis, benches were thrown, men struck each other with clubs and used pepper spray.

Police estimate that more than 350 of the 1,500 refugees staying in the emergency shelter at the Calden Airport near the city of Kassel became involved in the fight. The incident resulted in 14 injuries, including police officers. Two weeks prior, another altercation at Calden left 60 people injured. Read on and comment » | Matthias Bartsch, Markus Deggerich, Horand Knaup, Ann-Katrin Müller, Conny Neumann, Barbara Schmid, Fidelius Schmid, Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt and Steffen Winter | Tuesday, October 6, 2015