The recent drunken rampage of a group of teenage migrants in the Bavarian town of Amberg has apparently resulted in right-wing group members mobilising to secure the streets, The Local reports.
The migrant attack took place on the evening of 29 December, when the four suspects, all of them asylum seekers from Iran and Afghanistan, allegedly assaulted random passersby, resulting in 12 people sustaining injuries.
This incident has led to the formation of “neighbourhood defence groups”, comprised of right-wing members, who are actively patrolling the town to protect locals from similar attacks.
According to the Mittelbayerische Zeitung newspaper, these patrols are organised by the right-wing National Democratic Party of Germany, with Amberg Mayor Michael Cerny claiming that he was "shocked" by the response to the attack.
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"I can completely understand the insecurity that some people in Amberg are feeling right now. But this hatred and the threats of violence now coming from all over the country go too far," he remarked.
Tensions in Germany remain high as the number of violent crimes committed by the country’s sizeable population of migrants and asylum seekers continues to mount.
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In October, hundreds took to the streets of Freiburg after a teenage student was gang-raped by a group of seven Syrian men and one German native, with one of the perpetrators, a 22-year old asylum seeker, reportedly committing some 28 crimes in Germany prior to this assault for which he was not arrested.
In September, thousands rallied in the eastern city of Chemnitz after a local man was stabbed to death in the street, allegedly by an Iraqi and a Syrian.
As a result, Chancellor Merkel has received considerable criticism for her "open-door" migration policy, resulting in political setbacks for her party.