Anger at premier's defence of town where Indians were hurt

Politicians attacked Sunday the state premier who had claimed a German town was put under an unfair stigma over a racial clash with Indians last month. Dieter Wiefelspuetz, federal Social Democrat spokesman on interior issues, accused Saxony Premier Georg Milbradt of "utterly distorted perception and a tactless gaffe." The conservative Milbradt had the previous day defended the town of Muegeln in his state, where eight men from India were beaten up and chased by a mob during a street festival. The violence had diplomatic repercussions, with Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar voicing concern. She sent a diplomat to inquire in Muegeln and told a senior German official to ensure there was no repetition. "I find it intolerable that an entire town, an entire district was put under a stigma," said Milbradt. "There wasn't a pursuit in Muegeln, it was a pursuit of Muegeln," said the premier, referring to world news reports at the time, later corrected, that the Indians were run down like prey through the streets of the town. A police inquiry later found that a brawl erupted on a dance floor at the August 18 festival between the Indians and German men. The Indians ran from the tent to take refuge in an Indian-owned snack bar on the opposite side of the same street. Up to 50 yelling Germans tried to break in until police arrived and made arrests. The Greens leader in Saxony, Antje Hermenau, said Milbradt "will become a part of the problem if he doesn't perceive racist attitudes as such and trivializes them." Two police and 12 Indians were wounded in the Muegeln violence, suffering bruises, black eyes and cuts that needed stitches. Police have opened an inquiry against 12 Germans, aged 17 to 35, and one Indian man, aged 41, for their role in the clash. The Indian was suspected of heating up the drunken brawl by slashing a man with a broken bottle. The courts have yet to establish the truth of the various claims. dpa jbp fs gma