DHAKA: The German government says there have been almost 500 attacks on homes intended for asylum seekers this year - three times more than in 2014.

German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere called such violence ‘shameful’.

Two-thirds of the attacks were carried out by locals who had no previous criminal record, he said, reports the BBC.

Germany expects to host at least 800,000 asylum seekers this year.

Bavaria’s leaders have demanded that Berlin restrict the numbers arriving.

The southern state’s conservative CSU government opposes Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy for refugees. Yet formally the CSU is allied with her Christian Democrats (CDU).

Many of the migrants reaching central Europe via the Balkans have expressed a wish to settle in Germany.

Germans are split over Merkel’s welcome for refugees from Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones. That welcome does not extend to non-EU economic migrants.

BDST: 1218 HRS, OCT 10, 2015
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