German mayor attacked over refugee support

THE mayor of a small town in Germany had to be hospitalised after he was severely beaten in a suspected far-Right attack over his support for asylum seekers.

Joachim Kebschull, the mayor of Oersdorf in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, was attacked from behind as he walked to a planning meeting on Thursday night.

The 61-year-old was beaten with a club by unknown assailants who fled after he lost consciousness. Police believe the attack is linked to the mayor’s sup- port for plan to accommodate asylumseekers in the village. Hours before the attack, he received a threatening letter which contained the phrases, “He who will not listen will have to feel”, and “Oersdorf for the Oersdorfers”.

The small town has been the scene of growing tension in recent weeks.

The planning committee meeting had already been postponed twice over bomb threats, and police had secured the site ahead of Thursday’s planned session. Germany has suffered a wave of violent attacks targeting refugee shelters and politicians who support asylum-seekers over the past 12 months. A German government report released earlier this month warned that the former communist east is at threat of “social unrest” amid growing support for the far-Right and violence against foreigners.

The controversy in Oersdorf, in the former west, is centred on a building currently being redeveloped as subsidised local housing. The consituency association wants to offer one of the apartments to asylum seeekers.

Meanwhile, police had to intervene after some 50 asylum-seekers rioted and attacked security guards at a shelter in Berlin.