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Germany acts to ease tension on refugees

Leaders criticize far-right violence

BERLIN — German leaders denounced persistent violence led by far-right extremists against the increasing number of foreigners seeking asylum, with the chancellor and the president visiting refugee reception centers Wednesday to send a message of acceptance.

“There is no tolerance for those people who question the dignity of others; there is no tolerance for those who are not willing to help where legal and human help is required,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Heidenau, near Dresden. She was jeered by a group of about 50 people when she arrived.

Germany, with Austria, France, and Sweden, has taken in the bulk of the hundreds of thousands of refugees flocking to Europe, but countries across the continent are struggling to cope with the influx.

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In Hungary, a day after police said 2,533 immigrants had entered the country from Serbia on Tuesday, the highest one-day figure this year, officials planned to send the army, mounted police, and dogs to its southern border to confront the migrants, Reuters reported.

The Hungarian police sought to quell unrest at a reception center in the border region of Roszke, German news media reported, with the broadcaster ARD showing images of what appeared to be clouds of tear gas in an area crowded with migrants.

Most of the migrants entering Hungary have no plans to stay and are instead passing through on their way to Germany and other European countries seen as more desirable.

Yet many countries, including Germany, are struggling to process the asylum seekers, leading to unrest and difficult conditions at overcrowded reception centers.

“Given what we have all been forced to see here, I would like to recall that the humane and dignified treatment of every individual who comes to us is part of Germany’s national identity,” Merkel said after visiting the Heidenau center. It saw violent protests last weekend.

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Hundreds of neo-Nazis and far-right National Democratic Party members threw objects at police and shouted “Heil Hitler” during the protests in Heidenau. Merkel called the clashes and anti-immigrant protests “shameful and offensive.”