Migrants Stone German Police Probing Woman's Death at Refugee Center

Earlier, police had arrived at an asylum-seeker processing centre in southern Germany to investigate the death of a woman there.

Police were attacked and pelted with stones in the southern German city of Regensburg as they attempted to investigate the death of a 31-year-old woman at the migrant centre there, Deutsche Welle reported.

The incident took place at around 9 a.m. local time (0800 UTC), around 100 kilometres northeast of Munich.

Residents of the facility reportedly harassed and subsequently attacked the police, who described the atmosphere as highly charged inside the facility.

The operation to recover the woman’s body dragged out for some three hours and required enlisting the backup of 20 patrol cars and 50 police officers, as around 50 asylum-seekers obstructed police efforts.

Around noon local time, the woman's body was finally recovered and taken to a funeral home.

A police statement said the migrants were granted permission to carry the woman's coffin from the facility to a waiting vehicle for tactical reasons. No one was arrested on site.

An investigation has been launched into the woman’s death, with preliminary findings showing no evidence she had been attacked.

Police also launched a separate probe into the violence that accompanied the incident at the centre.

The facility in the southern German city of Regensburg is a so-called anchor centre, which in German is an acronym standing for arrival, distribution, decision and repatriation.

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Such centres were established to facilitate processing of asylum applications.

Germany has been witnessing an upsurge in crime against the backdrop of the migrant crisis.

One in 10 victims of serious crimes in Germany is assaulted by an asylum seeker or refugee, Die Welt reported, citing the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).

Its 2018 report "Crime in the Context of Immigration” analysed statistics of murders, homicides, assaults, robberies, and offences against sexual self-determination and personal freedom.

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The research suggests that Germans are significantly more likely to become victims of a crime committed by an immigrant than vice versa. Last year, 102,000 victims of serious crimes were assaulted by migrants. This number has increased by seven percent since 2017.

The spike is more drastic when it comes to murder and manslaughter involving foreign perpetrators and German victims: 230 Germans were killed, which is twice as many as in 2017.

The refugee policy and “open borders” approach, in particular, have prompted criticism against Angela Merkel’s government.

Under the open-door policy proclaimed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany has become one of the countries most affected by the migrant crisis in Europe, which erupted in 2015.