German authorities acted swiftly after a video circulated showing a German man attacking a Syrian teenager on a train. The incident occurred late Friday in Erfurt, eastern Germany, according to local reports. The governor of Thuringia, where Erfurt is located, described the attack as "disgusting." Thuringia's governor, Bodo Ramelow, tweeted: "The perpetrator has been arrested," referring to him as a "cowardly and aggressive person who attacks someone defenseless."
The widely shared video shows a man standing beside the 17-year-old Syrian teenager. Without warning, the man repeatedly hurled insults at the teenager, before further escalating the situation by spitting in his face and kicking him violently in the face. Erfurt police stated that the Syrian victim, who did not react during the attack, suffered minor injuries. Anti-racist groups reported that there were 102 cases of far-right extremist violence and anti-Semitism in Thuringia last year.
