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Indians attacked in Germany, 8 injured

— Photo: AFP

In shock: Kulvir Singh, who was injured in the attack, talks to the press on Monday.

Berlin: Eight Indian men were injured in a possible racist attack by about 50 Germans at a fair in eastern Germany over the weekend, police said on Monday.

Four assailants and two police officers were also injured in the incident in the town of Muegeln, which started with a scuffle on the dance floor of a party tent in the early hours of Sunday.

“A group of about 50 Germans and several onlookers then chased the escaping Indians across the market square,” said Ilka Peter, a spokeswoman for the police in nearby Leipzig.

The Indians sought shelter in a pizza parlour run by an Indian, but some of the Germans kicked in the doors of the building and beat them up, she said.

“We were told that some people were shouting ‘foreigners get out,’ but we don’t know if those slurs came from the onlookers or the attackers,” Ms. Peter said, adding that 70 police officers were needed to bring the situation under control. Two suspects were detained after the attack but later released. One Indian man remained hospitalised, Ms. Peter said.

Muegeln mayor Gotthard Deuse said on MDR television that the incident may have had a racist motivation. Ms. Peter said police were told before the fair that right-wing extremists were planning an attack on a youth centre in Muegeln , but the club was not targeted. The Indian men are mostly merchants who sell goods at open markets in the region, Ms. Peter said. — AP

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