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Violence in Europe Against Immigrants and Refugees
BERLIN, Aug 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Following a spate of violence early in August against Muslim asylum-seekers in Glasgow, Scotland, a 42-year-old Iranian man was hospitalized with a broken nose after several right-wing extremist teenagers attacked him and his family in the east German city of Cottbus, news agencies reported.
The man's wife and their 15-year-old daughter suffered bruises on their upper bodies as they were savagely beaten up by the German youths, the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, reported Sunday, according to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).
Police and the local prosecutor's office have begun investigations into the case.
Right-wing extremist assaults against foreigners have intensified in recent months, with almost daily reports of xenophobic hate crimes in the German press.
International human rights groups have harshly criticized the German government's inability, and often unwillingness, to halt the tide of neo-Nazi violence, which has killed at least 28 foreigners and injured thousands over the past 10 years.
Meanwhile, in Glasgow, a 26-year-old man was arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Turkish asylum-seeker earlier this month, a police spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The man was to appear in court in the Scottish city on Monday, the spokeswoman added.
Firsat Yildiz, a 22-year-old Turkish Kurd, was stabbed to death in the Sighthill area of the city as he walked home with a 16-year-old friend on August 5th.
The killing of Yildiz sparked uproar among hundreds of frustrated asylum-seekers who took part in a protest march to city council headquarters in George Square and demanded action, BBC's online service reported.
The vigil for Yildiz turned ugly as local white residents threw eggs on protestors as they marched to the city chambers, AFP reported.
Speaking at the vigil, race campaigner Aamer Anwar said: "The majority of people in Glasgow are outraged at what happened on Saturday night and what is happening in this community.
"The reason we are having this vigil is to show the people of Glasgow we do care and to show the asylum-seekers that they are welcome in this city.
"The other message we want to send out is to Glasgow City Council, the government and the Home Office that they are responsible for what happened to Firsat Yildiz and what is happening to other asylum-seekers.
"When you send 4,000 asylum-seekers to one of the most deprived areas in the country and do not provide the resources, this is what happens."
He said asylum-seekers had come to Scotland to escape violence and "to be treated as human beings".
The asylum seekers' protest was immediately followed by a counter demonstration by local residents in Sighthill protesting what they claimed was so-called favoritism towards asylum seekers and refugees.
Local residents demanded a rethink of Glasgow's Council's policy on refugees, which has seen more than 1,500 asylum-seekers accommodated in an area already suffering from high unemployment and poor housing.
Around 8,000 asylum seekers are being housed in the city over a five-year program with around 1,200 of the 6,000 Sighthill residents seeking asylum.
Race campaigners and civic leaders met to discuss the treatment of immigrants in Glasgow while Council chiefs appealed for calm.
They said they were doing everything possible to secure the safety of asylum-seekers in Scotland's biggest city.
But, violence against Muslim asylum-seekers in Glasgow continued just a few days after Yildiz's murder with the stabbing of an Iranian asylum-seeker.
Davoud Rasul Naseri, 22, was stabbed in an attack when he took out rubbish from his flat in Sighthill, BBC reported.
A police spokesman told AFP that a gang of people, all white, was being sought in connection with the incident.
Naseri later told journalists that he no longer felt safe in Glasgow.
Five families of asylum-seekers also fled to London, citing "racial harassment" as their reason for leaving Sighthill, BBC added.
The Refugee Council gave the families accommodation for one night before relaying Home Office advice that they should return to Glasgow.
Glasgow's city council attempted to defuse asylum-seekers fears by giving further reassurances that it was doing all it could to stamp out racial harassment.
Since then, police have appealed for calm as they stepped up their hunt for Yildiz's killer.
The incidents prompted the United Nations to condemn the "climate of vilification" surrounding asylum-seekers in Britain.
On August 10, Kris Janowski, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, called on politicians and the media to end the "linkage between the negative portrayal of asylum-seekers in the media and the violence it provokes".
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