Sudanese, Egyptian injured in new racist attack in Germany

Aug 24, 2007, 15:50 GMT

Mainz, Germany - Two men from Sudan and Egypt were beaten up by a group of right-wing extremists in the latest xenophobic attack in Germany, officials said Friday.

The men were set upon last Saturday in the southern state of Rhineland Palatinate, the same day as a group of Germans pursued and injured eight Indians in the eastern town of Muegeln.

A justice ministry spokesman said the Sudanese, aged 26, was hit over the head with a wine bottle and spent several days in hospital before being discharged. The 39-year-old Egyptian received cuts to the hand.

Three men in their 20s with known links to the right-wing scene were arrested and face charges of aggravated assault, said the spokesman in the city of Mainz. Two of them remain in police custody, he added.

Police did not immediately disclose details of the attack to avoid hampering their investigations, the spokesman said.

The incident took place during a wine festival in the town of Guntersblum. One of the suspects was heard to say: 'Let's flatten the Niggers,' before the trio pounced on their victims, the spokesman said.

Rhineland Palatinate Prime Minister Kurt Beck condemned the attack as 'loathsome' and cowardly.'

Police investigating an attack on Indians said Friday they had identified two more of the suspected assailants, bringing the number to four.

Eight Indians were injured when a mob of about 50 Germans chanting racist slogans hounded them across the market square in Muegeln after a town festival, forcing them to seek shelter in a pizzeria.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the attack as 'extremely grim and shameful' and a government spokesman said was harmful to Germany's image abroad.

The assault revived the debate about right-wing extremism in Germany, particularly the eastern states which were reunified with West Germany in 1990.

Saxony, where Muegeln is located, is a stronghold of the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party (NPD), which polled 9 per cent in a state election in 2004 and now sits in the state parliament in Dresden.