Violent anti-migrant protests were held on Sunday and Monday in Chemnitz, in the state of Saxony, as far-right demonstrators clashed with counter-protesters over the fatal stabbing of a 35-year-old German man in a brawl.
Two men -- an Iraqi and a Syrian -- have been arrested in connection with the stabbing.
Local right-wing extremist group Pro Chemnitz has called on Facebook for another mass rally in the city on Thursday. Police said about 500 people had registered for the demonstration.
Meanwhile, police are expecting as many as 15,000 people to attend an event taking place at the same time at Chemnitz stadium, where Saxony's state premier, Michael Kretschmer, and the mayor of Chemnitz, Barbara Ludwig, will be speaking with community groups.
Additional officers have been drafted in from Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, as well as from the federal police, after criticism that the police allowed the previous protests to get out of hand.
Police in the northern city of Wismar said the Syrian man was attacked Wednesday night by three German men as he made his way home alone.
He was subjected to xenophobic insults, punched, kicked and hit with a chain, suffering a broken nose and bruising to the face and upper body, a police statement said. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Separately, police said, unknown offenders defaced the windows of the office of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Wismar's old town with stickers and paint. Officers were informed Thursday morning and are investigating.
The rallies earlier this week were the latest examples of division in Germany triggered by the country's intake of refugees and migrants.
The demonstrations were condemned by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said "hate in the streets" had no place in the country. She also condemned the stabbing, saying it was "a horrible incident."
Arrest warrant investigation
A German politician is under investigation for posting a copy of a leaked arrest warrant for the suspects in the fatal stabbing on social media, the city of Bremen's prosecutor, Frank Passade, told CNN.
The politician, Jan Timke, is a member of the Bremen parliament in the country's north and the right-wing association "Citizens in Anger." He's also a former police officer and current member of the German Police Union.
The publication of an arrest warrant is punishable under German law. "Jan Timke could face a fine or imprisonment for up to a year" if he is found to have done this, Passade told CNN.
Timke admitted Thursday to sharing the warrant on social media but told journalists in Bremen that he was not the source of the leak, CNN affiliate NTV reported. He said he was not aware at the time that doing so was illegal.
"Of course I take responsibility for the publication," Timke said, before adding that he viewed the police search of his home as unlawful. CNN has reached out to Timke for comment.
Pro Chemnitz also posted the arrest warrant on social media, inflaming an already tense situation. The document was taken down by Facebook, but not before it was shared by thousands of people.
In the warrant, it appeared that at least one of the suspects already had a criminal record. Its apparent leak has prompted speculation that there may be links between members of the police or prosecutor's office and far-right elements.
The document fueled local anger that it took so long for the authorities to reveal that the suspects in the stabbing were asylum seekers and prompted suspicions of a cover-up.
Police and prosecutors in Chemnitz continue to investigate how the arrest warrant was made public.
Pro Chemnitz has protested against Facebook's removal of the document and said Thursday's demonstration was even more important than Monday's after the social media platform's action.
The group's Facebook post promoting Thursday's rally said: "Criminal foreigners cannot be tolerated, they need to be immediately deported and together we will explain this on Thursday to the state premier."
The AfD and the right-wing, anti-Islam Pegida group, which was founded in Saxony, have called for further protests on Saturday.
Infiltration fears
Concern over possible sympathy for far-right causes within the police and armed forces may be increased by two recent cases.
A policeman in the southwest German city of Trier was fired this week after being exposed for identifying with the "Reichsbuerger" movement -- an extreme right-wing group.
A news release from the administrative court in Trier said the police officer "was guilty of serious misconduct" and no longer recognized the country's constitutional system or laws, making him a potential threat to public safety.
Separately, Saxony police said Thursday that a police employee had left the service after it was revealed that he attended a Pegida rally on August 16 while off duty and called the police on a TV crew who were covering the event, calling them "lying press."
Ten people are being investigated for giving Nazi salutes, an illegal gesture in the country, during Monday's protest in Chemnitz.
Social media video from the protests showed scuffles and far-right demonstrators chanting, "German, social and national. Free, social and national," phrases heavily associated with the neo-Nazi movement.
There were around 1,500 counter-protesters on Monday night, vastly outnumbered by the 6,000 far-right demonstrators, many of whom had traveled from other states to Chemnitz, Saxony state police said.
The AfD, which campaigned on an anti-immigration, anti-Islam platform, won more than 25% of the vote in the state of Saxony in last September's federal election, almost double the national average.
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