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.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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