Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: 200,000 protest Bonn's plan to evict refugees Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 16:56:27 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD 200,000 protest Bonn's plan to evict refugees \BY Terrence Petty \CR ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT BONN BONN - Shouting "Fascism, no!" "Racism, no!" about 200,000 people from across Germany demonstrated yesterday against neo-Nazi violence and the deportation of asylum seekers. A population the size of a small city gathered on the spacious lawn of Bonn University to hear speakers accuse Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government of whipping up xenophobia by evicting refugees. Live rock music blared from bands playing on a huge stage, and the gathering was a little bit like a German Woodstock. Children wandered among the demonstrators, and young people climbed trees to hear speakers and to see above the sea of protesters. Thousands of anti-fascist banners rippled in the cool autumn wind, and colorful balloons floated overhead. The message here, as expressed by the banners, was "Foreigners Need Friends," "Stop the Neo-Nazi Violence," "Against Hate, Terrorism and Violence" and "Don't Deport Asylum Seekers." Right-wing extremists this year have carried out more than 1,600 attacks, mostly against foreigners. Eleven persons have been killed. Anton Igel, 70, showed up wearing a mock Nazi concentration-camp outfit. Mr. Igel, a retiree, said he was interned for four years in the Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen camps during World War II for refusing to serve in the military. "The government must act now to stop right-wing radicals," he said. "I'm worried that another dictatorship could be on the horizon." Peter Gingold, a German Jew who escaped the Holocaust by fleeing to France in 1933, came with a group of other elderly Germans persecuted during the Third Reich. "We Germans have a special responsibility because of our past," said the 76-year-old Mr. Gingold, who now lives in Frankfurt. "I think it's great that there are so many young people here. It shows a completely different Germany, and that the overwhelming majority is against racism," he said. Demonstrators demanded that politicians not tamper with Germany's constitutional guarantee of political asylum. Mr. Kohl's government wants to amend the constitution to permit drastic cuts in the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter Germany. Opposition Social Democrats may agree to certain constitutional revisions at their congress in Bonn this week. A record number of more than 500,000 refugees are expected to seek protection in Germany this year. "Changing the constitution is not the way to counter right-wing extremism," Karin Benz-Overhage, a leader of the giant IG Metall labor union, told the demonstrators. It was a peaceful rally, unlike the protest Sunday in Berlin, where radical leftists hurled eggs. Yesterday's protest was organized by a coalition of peace groups, church activists, human rights organizations and others. Most of the demonstrators were young, and they included hundreds of Vietnamese, Turks, Koreans and other foreigners who fear they will be ejected. Beate Klarsfeld, the famed Nazi-hunter, issued a blistering criticism of Mr. Kohl's moves to turn back asylum seekers. "Chancellor Helmut Kohl should know that it [violence against foreigners] damages our democratic future," she told cheering demonstrators. Ms. Klarsfeld contended that Mr. Kohl has strengthened xenophobic right-wing radicals by insisting the country harbors too many refugees. Mr. Kohl has argued that economic burdens caused by asylum seekers breed intolerance. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM