In its August 22 edition, The daily mirror reconsiders what he considers to be “the moment when far-right terror made a comeback in Germany”, namely the Rostock riots in 1992.
Thirty years ago, several hundred people from all over Germany stormed Lichtenhagen, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the North German city, “endangering the lives of residents of a hostel for asylum seekers, mostly Sinti and Roma, as well as that of around 150 Vietnamese workers”.
To commemorate the event, the left-wing newspaper publishes a photo of one of the participants in these xenophobic demonstrations, preparing to throw a stone, in front of a burning vehicle. At the time, the public did not come to the aid of the victims, when a jet of Molotov cocktail set fire to a bar of buildings inhabited mainly by immigrants. “The thousands of onlookers present did not intervene, they preferred to support the violence by applauding.”
Failure of the rule of law
“These riots are among the worst racist violence of the early 1990s – and a perfect illustration of the failure of the rule of law at that time,” comments on the Berliner title in its front page article. Between technical failures and organizational problems, the police had struggled to restore order. Nearly 200 law enforcement officers were injured and it took four days before calm returned to Lichtenhagen. “The following week, dozens of homes for asylum seekers were attacked across Germany with stones and incendiary projectiles.”
German migration laws were later tightened, says The daily mirror. But the most shocking remains the legal consequences of the Rostock riots. “Of the approximately 400 rioters, less than 50 were convicted and only three of them were imprisoned, explains the daily. Some proceedings have lasted several years: the last sentences were pronounced in 2002, and the significant lapse of time since the facts had then been considered as a mitigating circumstance.