Fopa George, Patterson Kenwou and John Adana
Ichtershäuser Str. 37-39, 99310 Arnstadt,
11th November 2000
To
Staatsanwaltschaft Meiningen,
Friedenssiedlung 14,
98617 Meiningen,
DENOUNCIATION OF NEO-NAZI ATTACK AND POLICE COMPLICITY
We, Fopa George, Patterson Kenwou and John Adana Resident in Arnstadt hereby agreed in good faith to denounce the Police complicity with the Neo Nazis to brutally humiliate us in the night of 21/22 October 2000 in Arnstadt.
That on the 21st October in Lindeneck Disco we were verbally and physically assaulted by some Germans while dancing in the said night club.At about 4 o’clock when we left the Lindeneck disco, some Germans of the same group of 15 then followed us with three cars and some moving on foot until we reached the Sud-bahnhof (Arnstadt). While coming after us they called us Niggers, Affe, Raus aus Deutschland and they also called our girlfriends schlampe.
When we got to Längwitzer strasse we decided to stop and let the group of Germans to pass-by because of possible fear of attack. The group of Germans met us a few meters from the sud-bahnhof directly infront the memorial monument for people who died as a result of the long march from Buchendwald in April 1945. At this point Patterson was directly attacked with punches by one of the 15 German aggressors who also called him various racist names like „Nigger, Ich Hasse Dich,Was machts du in Deutschland? Du muss raus gehen“. The same aggressor continued to punch Pattereson as he threw more racist insults on him.
After persistent punches by the same person, Patterson decided to respond with a punch and the other colleagues of the German racist group of 15 persons joined together to fight Patterson with weapons including baseball bats, sticks and at least a knife. Attempts by John to rescue Patterson led the group of neo- nazis to jointly attack John and Patterson. John retreated and then called the police for the first time using his mobile phone. After receiving more serious punches, Patterson fell to the ground and sustained bruises, and while lying there, the mob continuously kicked and punched him. Trying to rescue Patterson by raising him from the ground, John Adana was also beaten with the baseball bat and sticks which left him with injuries.
John later ran away to call the police for the second time, at this moment all the aggressors were concentrated on Patterson and inflicting more brutality on him. Being helpless and fearing the possible elimination and murder by the racist gang, Patterson recalled he had a play gun which he used to frighten the mob away leaving behind one of their three cars. The police arrived shortly after the group of aggressors took off and John immediately handed the keys of the car they had abandoned, John also tried to explain to the police the escape route the racist group of Germans took. In the presence of the police the racist gang reappeared again and even more aggressive this time swearing to deal with us. Police reaction towards us was blatantly negative, they refused to stop the racist gang from further attacking us. While John was even reporting the aggression to the police, the same aggressors continued to punch him without any intervention by the police.
Trying to defend himself from further attack, the police beat John with batons from which he sustained injuries in the hand and back. Patterson told the police of how we had been assaulted by the gang of aggressors but they in return told him to keep quiet, and that he’s an animal, a nigger and must go back to his bush in Africa from where he comes. When the police wanted to get Patterson handcuffed, he objected and question why he must be handcuffed. The police officers insisted that he must be handcuffed because he had a gun and that he’s an animal and deserves that. The police refused to listen when Patterson told them the gun is not real and that he uses it for games. The police continued all the time beating us while the other Germans took more advantage to also hit side by side with the police.
While Patterson was been brutalised and mishandled by the group of 15 Germans in the presence of the police, George tried to prevent the attack from going further but the police hit him with batons as well on his left shoulder and insulting him with racist words like nigger. One of the neo-nazis demanded a body search to be conducted on George, he (George) protested to the police but the police officers told him to do just what he was asked to do by the German. And so George was searched by this aggressors infront of the police officers. While the police tried to handcuff him, George said he wasn’t a criminal and would prefer to go with the police in liberty. At this juncture the police declared that if George refuses to be handcuffed he’ll be left behind with the group of Germans who had been aggressing us. George was terribly afraid of the possible danger he faces and so gave up himself to be handcuffed.
All of us were handcuffed brutally with more beatings received from the police and the gang of Germans who had been aggressing us. They forced us into the police cars and drove to the station while the gang of 15 Germans were left unarrested. They moved freely to the police station and mounted another confrontation on us. One of the German aggressors bought hot coffee from an automat in the police station and threw on the face of John Adana while the rest stood by laughing and insulting us with racist words. John reported this to the police but was only told to go and sit down. After all the racist insults at the police station, we were latter called to be photographed and give our identities. I John Adana was detained from 5 o’clock to 11 am, George Fopa was detained until 2 pm and Patterson Kenwou was detained from 5 am to 3 p.m. without water, food and warm clothing. He was even denied the right to a toilet when he requested. We have lost credibility in the police and feel even more threatened and insecure in police presence. They failed to protect us when we helplessly needed their protection.
Patterson Kenwou, Cameroon
John Adana, Sierra Leone
Georges Fopa, Cameroon
NAZI ATTACK INCLUDING POLICE BRUTALITY IN ARNSTADT
On Saturday 21st breaking Sunday 22nd , three Africans were attacked by a group of neo-nazis of about twenty both boys and girls. This all started in a disco called Lin Denek, when Paterson Kenwou was hit on the dance floor while dancing with his girlfriend, then John made a proposal “ it's better we go home ” because of such a brutal act here in this Disco.
Five of them ( Paterson Kenwou, Fopa George (Cameroonians), John Adana (Sierra Leone ) and two other German girls) left the Disco and were followed by this group of Neo-Nazis between the ages of 20-30, in three cars while some were on foot. While following them, there were insulting them with such words as “Affe -monkeys”, “Nigger raus” and for the girls with them, they were called “prostituierte-prostitute”, and breaking bottles a few meters from them that would create fear in them. On reaching the S-Bahnhof station, these group met them in-front of “Todesmarsch” which is a memorial stone “ der Häftling des KZ Buchenwald und seiner Aussenlager im April 1945”. This memorial stone is situated on the Längwitzer Straße.
When they met these Africans in front of the Memorial Tomb, one of them (neo-nazi) move to Paterson Kenwou and gave him four punches on his head and by then he was trying not to do anything. After the fifth punch, it was so painful that he could not bear any longer because he has been pushed to the wall. At this point, he gave one punch to this neo-nazi guy which took him to the floor. But before he fell on the ground, he held Paterson Kenwou and pulled him on the ground together. While he was going down, one other neo-nazi, took a base ball club?and hit him on his head and he fell down. It was there that his other African brothers came to his rescue to get him before the mob fell on him. While on the ground trying to regain consciousness, the others were beaten by this very mob.
On getting up he saw one of them the biggest moving towards him with a Knife in his hand, he immediately got up and went towards his other brothers, then he could recall that he had a toy pistol in his jacket. He took his jacket from John A. and pulled out the pistol which was very shocking to this nazi mob and so there started to retreat some getting into the car and driving while others ran leaving on of the cars there. At this time, John Adana had the opportunity to call the Police. They went to the car they had left, pulled out the keys and handed to the Police who came later in three cars.
On the arrival by the police, the neo-nazis, who had gone hiding because of the toy gun, came out and were more aggressive than before in-front of the Police especially when they discovered that the Police were on their side and were more brutal to the Africans. One of them hit John Adana and when he tried to retaliate, he was beaten by the Police until the stick the Police used on him was broken. This resulted to a sprain on his hand. Even the girlfriend of Paterson Kenwou tried to explain to the Police what had happened but she was ignored because she was on the side of the foreigners.
At this time the three Africans were handcuffed and taken to the Police station where other inhuman acts were conducted on these already brutalised refugees by the nazi mob. Before they were handcuffed, Georges Fopa refused, but the Police told him if he would refuse being handcuffed, then he would be handed over to the neo-nazis, and this made him to summit to them. All of them were really scared because instead of protecting them, the Police were in favour of the neo-nazi mob and also from their racist slang to the African people. Firstly, the neo-nazis were not handcuffed by the Police which was an aspect of racism and a racist Police system.
While at the Police station, one of the attackers went to the coffee automate machine and bought coffee and poured this hot coffee on the chest of John Adana. It was at this time that he screened then this neo-nazi guy was told to go outside by the Police. After doing their checks, John Adana and Fopa George were released but Paterson Kenwou was still held at the Police station. When the others left, he was also tormented. When he complained that the handcuffs were paining and asked if it could be removed for he is in the station, one of the Police officers made a mockery of this and said to his friends, “Hört mal, der Schwarze hat schmerzen” - “Listen, a black man who has pain”, then he later said to Paterson, “ Das macht nichts, du bist doch nur ein Tier, du kommst aus dem Busch - Warum bist du überhaupt hiergekommen? Du solltest Zurück nach Afrika gehen” -You are an animal and that is okay for you, you are from the bush in Africa and why did you come here for you shall go back to Africa”. He was later released at 3.00pm. This marked his 10 hours of detention at the Police Station without food to eat or water to drink.
Contradicting what actually happen on this day, the report that was given to be published in the local paper “ Arnstädter Allgemeine “ was quite different from what actually took place on Saturday night breaking Sunday morning. From this report that was published and what actually happened, it shows that the Police are racist and they carry on very racist policies especially when it comes to foreigners. This is a clear example of how the German Police “protects” the citizen against the foreigners by it's racist laws that puts the migrants especially the refugees in a dangerous position and we are demanding the abolishment of these racist laws as well as a free society for all. We also demand the resignation of the Police Boss of Arnstadt for promoting racism in his Police Station and his Jurisdiction.
After an interview with these refugees, we made a stroll towards the shopping centre from their hostel but before you leave the Refugee hostel to the Shopping centre you get abuses on the way before you get there. A hundred meter from the hostel, a first car drove and stopped with the people inside saying “ Nigger, Affe, Raus - Slave, Monkeys. Go away.” Just before reaching the shopping centre we got the same slang from passing cars. The same thing happened on Wednesday and now we know there are a lot of neo-nazis in Arnstadt which is not a conducive area for migrants especially refugees. With the collaboration of the Police, there will be there to continue their acts of brutal racism especially to refugees who are seen as the cause of their problem. The Police also encourages this especially with the last incident of the three Africans.