Refugee shelters are still targets for racist violence, the German NGO Pro Asyl said in an online statement published on Thursday (August 25). The organization also pointed out that victims of racist attacks still don't have the right to stay in Germany.

Moreover, Pro Asyl spoke out for the dissolution of mass shelters, which "serve as targets for right-wing terror and solidification of prejudices," according to Pro Asyl. Instead, the organization called for a rapid distribution of refugees in the municipalities.

"Remembrance must not remain in the past, the structural causes that make refugees the target of racist violence must finally be addressed," Pro Asyl executive director Günter Burkhardt said.

Burkhardt said the racist attacks of Rostock-Lichtenhagen 30 years ago were "the nationwide prelude to the dismantling of the right to asylum." He further said that the pogrom was accompanied by the isolation of people in camps and the introduction of the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act, which he called "grueling and discriminatory."

According to Pro Asyl, an average of two asylum seekers are attacked every day in Germany. The NGO also pointed out that the warm reception of Ukrainian refugees earlier in the year showed "what's possible in regards to asylum policies with the political will to act." At the same time, Pro Asyl criticized the unequal treatment between Ukrainian refugees and refugees coming from other countries.

Read more: Germany: Less violence against asylum seekers in 2021, but attacks continue

German President visits Rostock

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier meanwhile visited Rostock on Thursday to commemorate the xenophobic riots in the Lichtenhagen district. Among other things, Steinmeier laid flowers at the site where the events took place.

"What happened in Rostock is a disgrace for our country. Politicians bear a great deal of responsibility for this disgrace," Steinmeier said during a speech. He also thanked the people who, for decades and often against great opposition, worked with the victims to remember the xenophobic attacks.

In 1992, a mob of rioters and right-wing extremists tried to storm a central reception center for asylum seekers and a shelter for Vietnamese workers in Rostock's Lichtenhagen district for four nights. The pictures of the event went around the world.

The rioters threw rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails, and stormed the building. About 3,000 Rostock residents gathered at the scene, occasionally applauding, and preventing police and rescue workers from intervening.

"[The racist pogrom] was a low point for our reunified Germany," said Reem Alabali-Radovan, the German government's anti-racism commissioner, adding that "remembering also means drawing the right conclusions and acting decisively against racism and far-right extremism."

Also read: 'We all need to be anti-racists' -- Germany appoints first federal anti-racism commissioner

with AFP