sedan
05-21-2006, 08:20 PM
Racial attack on politician angers Germans
By Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006
BERLIN A German politician of Turkish origin was attacked in East Berlin over the weekend and German politicians said Sunday that far right extremists were trying to damage the country's reputation 18 days before it was to play host to soccer's World Cup.
Giyasettin Sayan, a member of the Berlin regional Parliament, was attacked Saturday in his political constituency of Lichtenberg by two men who called him a "dirty Turk" and said they were going to "get him, " the police said.
Claudia Roth, leader of the Greens, an opposition party, said the rightist extremists were trying to "damage the reputation of Germany before the World Cup."
Sayan, who belongs to the Party of Democratic Socialists, the heirs to the former communist party of East Germany, was beaten and his head and face were slashed with a broken bottle in a part of Berlin known as a center of neo- Nazis. Last year, there were 18 recorded attacks on foreigners in Berlin of which two took place at the Lichtenberg suburban railway station, the police said.
The attack was quickly condemned by politicians from all parties and the police have offered a €3,000, or $3,800, reward for information about the assailants. Berlin's conservative Christian Democrats, already deep in a political campaign to try and unseat the capital's government, which is led by a coalition of Social Democrats and the Party of Democratic Socialism, said the attack was "cowardly."
The attack on Sayan took place just days after a former government spokesman, Uwe-Karsten Heye, warned visitors coming to Germany for the World Cup against visiting certain areas that he called "no-go areas" for non-whites.
"There are small and midsized towns in Brandenburg and elsewhere where I would advise anyone with a different skin color not to go," said Heye.
Heye added that those entering these areas "may not leave with their lives." Those remarks provoked an outcry from some who said he was exaggerating the problem but support from others who said they welcomed the idea that someone finally explained the reality.
The East German state of Brandenburg has a reputation as a home for rightist extremism, partly because the state had little or no contact with foreigners during the communist period and partly because of chronic high unemployment, which is often above 30 percent in some towns.
Even last week, local politicians acknowledged that there was a serious problem with far right extremism in the state whose voters last year elected far- right extremist parties into the regional Parliament. Jörg Schönbohm, the interior minister of Brandenburg and a conservative Christian Democrat, said last week that the authorities had to do more to curb extremism and foster tolerance.
An Ethiopian was almost beaten to death last month after being attacked in the regional capital of Potsdam, and the federal prosecutor decided to take over the case rather than leave it to the Brandenburg state prosecutor.
Some politicians warned Sunday against stigmatizing the East German states.
Uwe Schünemann, the Christian Democrat interior minister of the western state of Lower Saxony, said there were "extreme right wing groups, in other states, not just in the east."
Heye's comments also provoked criticism from the interior ministry, which said the one million visitors expected to visit Germany during the World Cup would be safe.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the federal interior minister, was scheduled on Monday to present the annual report on the protection of the constitution, which among other things documented the number of neo-Nazi and extreme right- wing groups and tried to assess their influence.
After media leaks about the report's findings, the Interior Ministry confirmed Sunday that the number of neo- Nazis had increased by 300 to 4,100 in 2005 compared with 2004.
The number of skinhead bands, usually associated with far right extremists, increased from 106 in 2004 to 142 last year. The number of rightist extremists ready to use violence has increased by 400 to 10,400 over the same period, the ministry said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/21/news/german.php
By Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006
BERLIN A German politician of Turkish origin was attacked in East Berlin over the weekend and German politicians said Sunday that far right extremists were trying to damage the country's reputation 18 days before it was to play host to soccer's World Cup.
Giyasettin Sayan, a member of the Berlin regional Parliament, was attacked Saturday in his political constituency of Lichtenberg by two men who called him a "dirty Turk" and said they were going to "get him, " the police said.
Claudia Roth, leader of the Greens, an opposition party, said the rightist extremists were trying to "damage the reputation of Germany before the World Cup."
Sayan, who belongs to the Party of Democratic Socialists, the heirs to the former communist party of East Germany, was beaten and his head and face were slashed with a broken bottle in a part of Berlin known as a center of neo- Nazis. Last year, there were 18 recorded attacks on foreigners in Berlin of which two took place at the Lichtenberg suburban railway station, the police said.
The attack was quickly condemned by politicians from all parties and the police have offered a €3,000, or $3,800, reward for information about the assailants. Berlin's conservative Christian Democrats, already deep in a political campaign to try and unseat the capital's government, which is led by a coalition of Social Democrats and the Party of Democratic Socialism, said the attack was "cowardly."
The attack on Sayan took place just days after a former government spokesman, Uwe-Karsten Heye, warned visitors coming to Germany for the World Cup against visiting certain areas that he called "no-go areas" for non-whites.
"There are small and midsized towns in Brandenburg and elsewhere where I would advise anyone with a different skin color not to go," said Heye.
Heye added that those entering these areas "may not leave with their lives." Those remarks provoked an outcry from some who said he was exaggerating the problem but support from others who said they welcomed the idea that someone finally explained the reality.
The East German state of Brandenburg has a reputation as a home for rightist extremism, partly because the state had little or no contact with foreigners during the communist period and partly because of chronic high unemployment, which is often above 30 percent in some towns.
Even last week, local politicians acknowledged that there was a serious problem with far right extremism in the state whose voters last year elected far- right extremist parties into the regional Parliament. Jörg Schönbohm, the interior minister of Brandenburg and a conservative Christian Democrat, said last week that the authorities had to do more to curb extremism and foster tolerance.
An Ethiopian was almost beaten to death last month after being attacked in the regional capital of Potsdam, and the federal prosecutor decided to take over the case rather than leave it to the Brandenburg state prosecutor.
Some politicians warned Sunday against stigmatizing the East German states.
Uwe Schünemann, the Christian Democrat interior minister of the western state of Lower Saxony, said there were "extreme right wing groups, in other states, not just in the east."
Heye's comments also provoked criticism from the interior ministry, which said the one million visitors expected to visit Germany during the World Cup would be safe.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the federal interior minister, was scheduled on Monday to present the annual report on the protection of the constitution, which among other things documented the number of neo-Nazi and extreme right- wing groups and tried to assess their influence.
After media leaks about the report's findings, the Interior Ministry confirmed Sunday that the number of neo- Nazis had increased by 300 to 4,100 in 2005 compared with 2004.
The number of skinhead bands, usually associated with far right extremists, increased from 106 in 2004 to 142 last year. The number of rightist extremists ready to use violence has increased by 400 to 10,400 over the same period, the ministry said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/21/news/german.php