Foreign visitors to the World Cup should avoid some areas around Berlin because of the risk of racist attack, a former German government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
”There are small and mid-sized towns in Brandenburg and elsewhere where I would advise anyone with a different skin colour not to go,” Uwe-Karsten Heye told Deutschlandradio Kultur.
The state of Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin in the former communist East Germany, was the scene of a brutal attack on a 37-year-old man of Ethiopian origin in April.
The Olympic Stadium in Berlin will host six matches in the tournament, including the final on July 9.
Heye, who was spokesperson for the government led by former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder from 1998 to 2002, now runs an anti-racist action group called ”Gesicht zeigen” (Show Your Face). — AFP
