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Germany:Germany's response to racist violence

01 January 1991

Germany:Germany's response to racist violence
artdoc March=1993

Following the racist violence across Germany, where refugee
hostels have been firebombed and foreigners attacked, Chancellor
Kohl has promised that Article 16, that guarantees asylum in
Germany, will be changed, and that the state will crack down on
the violence of both the far-left and the far-right.* Kohl's
attack on the left came after violence at a rally in Berlin
during which President von Weizsacker was pelted with eggs and
stones (Independent 9.11.92; 10.11.92).
A demonstration in Rostock, to protest at West German
government plans to forcibly deport gypsies to Romania, led to
the arrest of 46 Jews, including the French nazi-hunters Serge
and Beate Klarsfeld. The leader of Berlin's Jewish community,
Jersy Kanal, says `it is a totally exaggerated reaction and shows
an alarming underlying attitude of the authorities'. (Independent
23.10.92)Meanwhile, Germany's counter-intelligence service says
that there have been 1,000 acts of right-wing violence in Germany
in the past two months, and the far-Right are increasingly
coordinating these attacks. (Times 6.11.92) [* An area-by-area
documentation of the violence can be found in the October and
November issues of the magazine, Searchlight].

Racism Fascism

IRR European Race Audit no 1 1992
Contact: Liz Fekete Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke
Street, London WC1X 9HS. Tel: ++ 071 837 0041