Chemnitz, in former East Germany, has seen protests and confron-tations in recent weeks.
A German national was stabbed to death on 26 August and the police arrested two suspects, an Iranian and a Syrian.
After their arrest warrants were issued, far-right groups launched a witch-hunt for foreigners on the streets of Chemnitz.
Portuguese emigrant Lúcia Soares has lived in Saxony for seven years and acknowledged she was concerned: “I am afraid, even though I have dual nationality and am married to a
German. I am afraid to go into the town centre “.
“Here, there are first-class and second-class foreigners”, Lúcia Soares said; though she acknowledged that she, personally, had not felt any “xenophobia or racism” even though she knew it existed.
Likewise, Afonso Henrique Manita, who has lived there for five years, said he had never had any disagreeable situations or racism from Germans or any other person in the town”.
The Portuguese embassy in Berlin told Lusa News Agency they were unaware of any Portuguese citizen being involved in the events in Chemnitz.