BERLIN, Aug 22: Jews in Germany sounded the alarm on Wednesday over a mob attack on Indian immigrants in the east of the country, saying Berlin had failed to define a strategy to fight far-right violence.
The general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan Kramer, said the government had not managed to stop right-wing extremists from creating ‘no-go areas’ for foreigners in the east.
“Officials make the same statements every time but there is never a noticeable change in the strategy to fight xenophobia,” Kraemer told online news service Netzeitung. “We must re-launch the debate about no-go areas.”
At a summer festival on Saturday night, a group of about 50 Germans, some shouting neo-Nazi slogans, chased eight Indians through the streets of the town of Muegeln and broke down the door of a pizzeria where they had sought refuge. Three of the Indians were so brutally beaten that they needed hospital treatment.
The Indian foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it was seeking information on the attack and asked Berlin to head off further violence.
Gotthard Deuse, the Mayor of Muegeln, a town of 5,000 people, drew criticism for claiming that there was no anti-foreigner sentiment among its citizens.
Kramer said it was clear that Berlin and the regional states had failed to tackle the problem of extremist violence head-on.
“There is still no nationally-coordinated plan with the states and local governments,” he said.
Kramer said it was ‘a bitter truth’ that foreigners should be warned against living in some areas of the depressed former communist east, where he saw an escalating problem with racist attacks.—AFP
