Asylum seeker abuse case alarms Berlin

"It's absolutely clear that these incidents must be clarified swiftly and thoroughly," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesperson, Steffen Seibert, told reporters on Monday.

The incidents he referred to stemmed from a report originally released by German regional broadcaster WDR over the weekend. According to WDR, two male security staff working at a housing facility for refugees had been abusing several of the residents.

Investigators released images to the public on Sunday depicting one of the security guards pinning a man down with his boot. His colleague also appears in the photograph kneeling next to the victim as if posing for the camera.

The incidents allegedly occurred in town of Burbach, located in the western German state of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW).

"If what these pictures suggested were confirmed - that is, if refugees were in fact abused and humiliated there - then those acts would be abominable," Seibert said, adding that those responsible would be held accountable.

Germany has experienced a large influx of asylum seekers over the past two years, with more than 65,000 people applying for asylum in the first half of 2014 alone, according to UN figures.

German law stipulates that asylum seekers be divided among the states, first being assigned to a central facility and then transferred to local authorities. The sudden jump in the number of refugees has uncovered a number of challenges across the country's federal regions, including a significant housing shortage.

Who's to blame?

A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry reminded reporters on Monday, however, that the task of investigating the incident lay with the state of NRW and not with the federal government, as the state held the legal responsibility for the asylum seekers they were housing.

Lawmakers involved in the politics of the western state also weighed in on the treatment of asylum seekers, particularly related to who should be providing security.

The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) convened its national committee on Monday to discuss the case in NRW, where the SPD is in a coalition with the Greens party.

"I don't think it's the norm [to use private security]," center-left Social Democrat (SPD) vice chairman Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel said, according to news agency DPA, adding: "It's a huge mess."

However, the state's top center-right CDU politician, Armin Laschet, pointed to overwhelming housing-related issues confronting the state.

Many municipalities were forced to find their own solutions to housing-related issues because "in contrast to many other states, there isn't a complete financial compensation for municipalities in NRW," Laschet said, according to news agency Reuters.

Laschet cited the example of the city of Duisburg, where local officials were planning to set up a camps for refugees. "That's not acceptable," he said.

The NRW state parliament was due to deliberate over the issue later on Monday.

kms/jr (Reuters, dpa)