Germany: Neo-Nazi mob hunts down Indians

MUEGELN, Germany, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Germany has been shocked by what may have been a neo-Nazi mob that tried to hunt down eight Indians at a city festival in Saxony.

Sunday morning in Muegeln, a city of 5,000 in Saxony between Leipzig and Dresden, a dance-floor brawl escalated and eight Indians fled from a party tent, chased by a group of roughly 50 German youths. The Indians fled into a local pizzeria, followed by the mob that encircled the house. Only a quick dispatch of roughly 70 police officers was able to prevent the mob from storming the building, the Leipziger-Volkszeitung newspaper said Monday.

All eight Indians were injured, one of them seriously. Four attackers were injured, as well as two police officers. In the end, some 150 to 200 people had gathered around the house, one witness told the online version of German news magazine Der Spiegel.

"It was a bit like a people’s riot," the witness said.

The Leipziger-Volkszeitung daily reported Monday that the mob had shouted neo-Nazi slogans. Observers have said that a group of neo-Nazis targeted the festival to spark the violence.

German officials have vowed to launch a thorough investigation into the incident.