Far-right violence: Chemnitz riot trial begins Monday

The victims have been waiting a long time for this moment: Five years after right-wing extremist riots in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, the trial against the alleged perpetrators will begin on December 11.

Seven defendants between the ages of 26 and 51 stand accused of causing grievous bodily harm and disturbing the peace in 11 separate cases during the incidents of September 1, 2018.

That evening, following an event organized by the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), right-wing populist association Pro Chemnitz, and the anti-Islam Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident (PEGIDA ), the defendants are alleged to have engaged in violent confrontations with participants of a counterdemonstration, according to the indictment by the Dresden public prosector's office.

Stabbing death sparks anti-immigrant protests

The demonstrations came amid heightened tensions in Chemnitz, following the stabbing death just days before of a 35-year-old German-Cuban man after an argument on the fringes of a city festival.

The case and its consequences attracted international attention, and one of the suspects, Syrian Alaa S., was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm nearly one year later.

The city was in a state of emergency for days after the killing, which had sparked large demonstrations against immigration and refugee policy.

Victim counseling centers have called what happened a "neo-Nazi manhunt." When counterdemonstrations were organized in response to the xenophobic protests under the slogan "Herz statt Hetze," or "Heart Not Hate," the clashes ensued.

Court to avoid politics

The Chemnitz district court will likely be packed on Monday, with 20 seats reserved for press alone. Due to the large number of defendants (29) there will be three trials. So far, 43 witnesses have been summoned, with 11 trial days scheduled at the Chemnitz district court until the end of January.

Petra Kürschner, the presiding judge at the Chemnitz District Court, told DW that the trial would not address politics.

"A political reappraisal must not be carried out by the court," she said. "During the proceedings we must determine whether the defendants are guilty of a criminal offense and, if they are found guilty, how each of these people should be punished based on their individual guilt."

Violence justified as resistance

By contrast, the political climate in the city continues to be shaped by the events of 2018.

"Right-wing protest has become the norm in Saxony,” according to an anti-far right series of publications by pro-democracy NGO Kulturbüro Sachsen. "The riots in Chemnitz in 2018 saw the extreme right openly join forces, from the parliamentary wing of the AfD and new right-wing organizations, to right-wing hooligans and Nazi groups."

Right-wing extremism researcher Beate Küpper, who teaches at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, confirms the development of this trend. Right-wing extremism has entered relatively broad sections of the population, with acts of violence justified as resistance, she said in a recent TV interview.

Statistics in the state of Saxony reflect this. "Politically motivated crime on the right continues to be a focus, accounting for around 30 percent of all politically motivated crimes," according to state law enforcement's 2022 crime numbers, which showed a year-on-year increase of one-third.

Far-right parties gain votes

The shift to the right has also taken hold politically. In the 2019 local elections, the AfD garnered 17.9% of the vote in Chemnitz, more than tripling its share compared to 2014 (5.6%). The right-wing populist voter association Pro Chemnitz went from 5.7% to 7.7%. The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), socialist Left Party and conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) all sustained significant losses.

The campaign is already in full swing for the local elections on June 9, 2024. Just one day before voters head to the polls, the "Kosmos Chemnitz” festival for democracy, society, music and culture is expected to draw some 50,000 visitors. It was launched in response to the right-wing extremist violence of September 1, 2018 with the intention of heralding Chemnitz's role as European Capital of Culture 2025.

This article originally appeared in German.