African man injured in racist stabbing in Hamburg

Berlin, June 6, IRNA -- A 34-year-old African man became the victim of a racist stabbing attack in Hamburg on Saturday, according to news reports.

The victim was sitting in a bus next to his 24-year-old assailant when he was first confronted with racial insults because of his skin colour and was later on attacked with a switchblade knife, police was quoted as saying on Sunday.

The attacker tried to run away when the bus stopped, however a companion of the victim managed to hold on to him until police arrived.

The victim was treated at a local hospital for shoulder and axle injuries.

Germany has time and again witnessed brutal racist and xenophobic attacks in recent years as the center-right government has tried to downplay the problem.

Most of the racial assaults are committed by mostly young neo-Nazis who live in what used to be formerly communist East Germany.

The German government has been under fire for not really cracking
down on far-right violence which is targeting mostly foreigners and
leftist activists.

Young neo-Nazis feel more and more emboldened to commit hate
crimes, knowing that police won't charge them with an offense.

Most of the suspects implicated in far-right crimes are juveniles.

Hate crime experts and sociologists have repeatedly stressed that
Germany's political leadership lacked a clear and effective strategy to really combat neo-Nazi crimes./end