BERLIN
German police are investigating suspected instances of mistreatment at shelters for asylum seekers after receiving images that appear to show people being abused.
An unnamed police spokesperson from the western German city of Essen told the German News Agency DPA Monday that police had received "three criminal charges of simple bodily injury in a shelter."
Guards from private security firms have been accused of mistreatment at shelters in Burchbach, Essen, and Bad Berleburg in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In one incident, a man was videoed being forced to lie on a plank bed covered with vomit, while in another a photograph shows a security officer with his boot on the head of a man lying face-down on the floor.
Police are interviewing residents of the shelters to determine if other incidents have taken place.
Handelsblatt newspaper on Sunday reported Left Party Federal Chairman Bernd Riexinger as saying that Germany should review its asylum policy following the incidents.
"We have to move away from the closed accommodation of refugees. This is inhumane and opens the door for abuse of power," he said.
http://www.aa.com.tr/en
