After the arrest of nine people in Munich’s Krailing district last week, a refugee help group today severely criticised both police and the media.

The police raided the Krailing refugee shelter, allegedly terrifying some of the inhabitants. When police tried to arrest an 18-year-old Afghan male, his mother tried to intervene to protect him, say the Asyl Helferkreises Krailling. The help group claim a policeman threw the lady ‘to the floor to the ground so hard that her arm was broken and teeth knocked out’.

The shock of the initial police raid and alleged police violence was compounded when nearby support squads of up to 100 police officers quickly arrived and detained nine other males.

The help group claim that there is video evidence of the whole event, though it appears that police confiscated mobile phones, including with the video evidence. The help group are also critical of the fact that some media organisations merely regurgitated the police account of the events, describing it as ‘one-sided’ in a press release.

Police say the 18-year-old Afghan resisted arrest and other inhabitants threw stones at them, leading to the further nine arrests.