Eritrean refugee arrested over murder of compatriot in Germany

BERLIN (Reuters) - An asylum seeker from Eritrea was arrested on Thursday and faces charges of killing a 20-year-old compatriot in Dresden, an eastern German city that has become a centre of protests against Islam and refugees. State prosecutor Jan Hille told Reuters that the man had admitted attacking the victim during a dispute over the room they were sharing in a refugee shelter. "The 26-year-old man is suspected of killing his roommate with a knife," Hille said. The stabbing death became national news in Germany because it happened around the same time as a major anti-asylum rally by the far-right PEGIDA organisation in Dresden. A record 25,000 people joined the latest march of PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) in Dresden on Jan. 14. The rallies began in October as a local protest against new shelters for refugees, and have attracted growing numbers of demonstrators.