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People attend a demonstration in Chemnitz, eastern Germany, on Friday, September 7, 2018, after several nationalist groups called for demonstrations against the murder of a German two weeks ago, apparently by Syrian and Iraqi migrants. (AP Photo / Jens Meyer)
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German flags leaned against a wall during a demonstration in Chemnitz, eastern Germany on Thursday, September 7, 2018, after several nationalist groups called for demonstrations against the murder of a German. (AP Photo / Jens Meyer)
BERLIN – Prosecutors leading the investigation into a far-right protest in Chemnitz said on Saturday that there was no evidence showing a fake video showing protesters chasing and attacking a stranger, despite comments from the spying chief of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Dresden prosecutor Wolfgang Klein told the Die Zeit newspaper that the video was part of the evidence his office was using in his investigation into the spontaneous protest of 26 August, which provoked hundreds of anger after the murder of a German .
"We have no indication that the video could be a fake," Klein told the newspaper.
An Iraqi and a Syrian have been arrested for manslaughter, according to the authorities, following a verbal escalation.
Several migrants were injured during the demonstrations and Merkel's spokeswoman said foreigners had been targeted and "driven out" by the far right. Merkel herself condemned "hatred on the street".
But on Friday, the head of the country's spy agency, Hans-Georg Maassen, told the Bild newspaper that he was skeptical that the far-right protesters from Chemnitz had "hunted down" "aliens and questioned the authenticity of the video. shot elsewhere or at a different time.
The Zeit newspaper reported having reviewed the video clip and video, not long ago, on the cell phone on which it had been filmed and confirmed that it was from August 26th.
Many have questioned Maasen's motives and, on Saturday, lawmaker Patrick Sensburg, Merkel's intelligence expert, said it would be presented to the parliamentary intelligence committee to explain.
"Maasen will now have to explain how he came to his assessment and why he did so in the media," Sensburg told the Handelsblatt newspaper. "If it is based on classified evidence, it will have the opportunity to present it to the legislators of the parliamentary panel next week."
The day after the murder, some 6,000 people took to the streets of Chemnitz to protest against neo-Nazis, members of the far-right Alternative for the German party and other Germans concerned about crimes committed by migrants . small group of counter-protesters.
Subsequently, the demonstrations on the right have diminished, more recently when 2,350 people marched Friday night in an essentially peaceful rally. At the same time, about 1,000 people participated in a counter-demonstration and more than 5,000 people attended a free outdoor performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, under the slogan "Against xenophobia, hatred and violence".
