Police step up presence after clashes in east German town

BERLIN – Police in the eastern town of Bautzen are preparing for possible further clashes over the weekend after violence between far-right protesters and migrants this week.

A planned protest Friday evening was cancelled, but German authorities said they would maintain a “high police presence” in case of spontaneous violence and in view of an anti-migrants demonstration Sunday.

Violence flared late Wednesday when about 80 locals and 20 migrants attacked each other in the town, near the border with Poland. Police said migrants attacked first.

Authorities placed the migrants under curfew Thursday and police were able to keep apart far-right and far-left protesters in the town that evening without major incident.

German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer declined to comment directly on the clashes, but said public violence was “unworthy of our country.”