From: tran@peora.sdc.ccur.com (Nhan Tran)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: NEWS: violence agaisnt foreigner in Germany
Date: 3 Sep 92 15:47:55 GMT
Reply-To: tran@peora.sdc.ccur.com
Organization: SCV Relay
Originator: daemon@media-lab.media.mit.edu


09/02

Anti-foreigner violence continues

	BONN, Germany (UPI) -- As more right-wing violence against foreigners
and clashes with police were reported Wednesday, politicians crossed
swords over the way the authorities were handling a record number of
applications for political asylum.
	Police said youths in the eastern German town of Frankfurt an der
Oder hurled stones at a car, injuring one of the three Polish nationals
in the vehicle.
	In at least two other eastern German towns, right-wingers threw
firebombs at hostels housing asylum-seekers from Romania and guest-
workers from Vietnam.
	In the small eastern German town of Floeha, two policemen were
injured and 18 people arrested after right-wingers clashed with police
outside a hostel, a police spokesman said.
	Anti-foreigner violence has increased dramatically in Germany over
the past year and flared up again in eastern Germany, which has been the
scene of nightly attacks against hostels for asylum-seekers and fierce
street battles with police for over a week.
	Authorities have linked the violence to a major influx of foreigners
entering Germany as asylum-seekers and are planning to tighten
legislation to enable swifter expulsion of economic migrants who do not
qualify for political asylum.
	While about 95 percent of applications for political refugee status
are rejected, the process takes as long as two years, while the asylum-
seekers draw social benefits.
	Several senior opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) politicians,
including prime ministers of two federal states, have sharply criticized
the government for failing to deal promptly with the applications.
	Some SPD members claimed the government was delaying the process on
purpose to sway public opinion in favor of a change to Germany's liberal
ayslum legislation.
	The SPD leadership recently dropped its objections to the proposed
constitutional amendment, but many members of the opposition party
continue to reject it.

-----------------------

09/03

Hostel burned down, cars smashed in latest right-wing German violence

	BONN, Germany (UPI) -- In the latest night of anti-foreign violence,
German youths torched a hostel for asylum-seekers, smashed cars
belonging to foreigners and hurled stones at immigrants' homes, police
said Thursday.
	Right-wing violence -- which has increased dramatically over the past
year in Germany -- has flared explosively in former East Germany over the
past two weeks, with extremists and skinheads harrassing immigrants and
clashing with police.
	In the latest attacks, rioters Wednesday hurled stones and Molotov
cocktails at several foreigners' hostels.
	The extremists burned one hostel to the ground in Ketzin, but 44
Bulgarians inside managed to escape unharmed, police said.
	In Erfurt, four youths hurled stones and shot flares at the homes of
Vietnamese nationals. Police also reported a similar attack against a
Turkish family's home in Northeim, in former West Germany.
	In several cities, youths also smashed cars belonging to foreigners.
	The government links the right-wing violence to a major influx of
foreigners seeking asylum in Germany. The nation's constitution requires
Germany to grant refuge to anyone fleeing political persecution.
	Figures released Wednesday show that 274,000 people requested asylum
in the first eight months of this year, compared to 256,000 during all
of 1991. The majority of this year's refugees came from Romania, former
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey.
	The government maintains most of the asylum-seekers are economic
refugees rather than political ones, and thus ineligible for permanent
residence in Germany.
	But while officials review the immigrants' applications, asylum-
seekers receive generous government benefits -- often for months or
years.
	Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters Wednesday said officials
have evidence former members of Stasi, the disbanded East German secret
police, took part in recent right-wing violence in the city of Rostock.
	A senior intelligence officer in eastern Germany confirmed that
police briefly held three former Stasi officials after last week's
Rostock riots. But the official said he did not believe the men were
acting as an organized group.