Merkel vows 'no tolerance' for anti-migrant sentiment

German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced down around 200 anti-migrant far-right protesters, who called her a “traitor” and booed her after she visited a migrant centre on Wednesday.

The migrant centre, located in the small town of Heidenau, just outside of Dresden, has faced some of the worst violence in the past few weeks.

“There is no tolerance for those people who question the dignity of others, there is no tolerance for those who are not willing to help where legal and human help is required,” Merkel said.

“The more people who make this clear, the stronger we shall be.”

Merkel's statements came as at least 55 dead bodies were discovered on three overcrowded migrant boats in the Mediterranean, according to the Italian coastguard, and as some 3,000 others were rescued in the sea.

Recent violence against migrants and refugees in Germany escalated as Europe faces the biggest migrant crisis since World War II. Other European countries such as Hungary have fortified their borders with razor sharp metallic fences as they struggle to deal with the record influx of asylum-seeking people.

UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon urged the countries “in Europe and elsewhere to prove their compassion and do much more to bring an end to the crisis".

Migrants and refugees who brave perilous journeys “should not, when they arrive, encounter new challenges,” Ban said during a visit to Paris on Wednesday.

Last weekend, hundreds of protesters tried to block the transfer of asylum-seekers to the refugee shelter in Heidenau, and clashed with police.

The protesters chanted xenophobic slogans and threw stones, bottles and firecrackers at buses carrying the asylum-seekers.

President Joachim Gauck described the violent protests against refugees and xenophobic attacks as “dark Germany”, and vowed to contend with far-right extremists.

“Volunteers who help refugees here want to show that there is a bright Germany, which is vibrantly portrayed here, as opposed to the dark Germany we feel when we hear about attacks against refugee shelters or xenophobic attacks against the people,” Gauck said after visiting a refugee shelter in Berlin-Wilmersdorf.

Germany, which is on its way to hosting 800,000 asylum-seekers by the end of this year, takes in more people than any other EU state. The country has recently eased the asylum application procedure for Syrians fleeing the country's brutal civil war.

There have been at least 278 attacks against asylum-seekers and refugee shelters so far this year, including at least 33 arson attacks. More than 130 violent protests were organised, according to the human rights foundations, Amadeu Antonio Stiftung and PRO ASYL.

The recent wave of far-right attacks has raised concern of a potential return to the atmosphere in Germany during the nineties. Dozens of xenophobic riots and arson attacks took place in the country between 1991 and 1996 and claimed the lives of at least 18 asylum-seekers and immigrants, and injured dozens more.