Polish minority in Germany slams ‘hostility’ in Poland

Bogdan Miłek, the head of the Congress of Polonia in Germany wrote that the incident “is a negative element in the contacts between Poland and Germany and it undermines Polish hostility”.

Miłek also wrote that he hopes that the attacker will be found, and convicted, so that the assault would not “influence the image of Poles and Poland in the world.”

Professor Jerzy Kochanowski of the University of Warsaw was hit on the head and needed stitches for cuts to his forehead. He was assaulted because he was heard speaking German to his friend from the University of Jena.

Meanwhile another incident happened in the Polish capital on Saturday, when two Asian women were verbally abused by an aggressive man on the Warsaw underground.

The attacker yelled that “Poland is for Poles only”, and that the women should leave the country.

Poles have also been the target of attacks abroad. A Polish man was beaten up over the weekend in Leeds, Yorkshire, in the 18th attack on the Polish community on the British isles since the Brexit referendum.

In recent weeks, at least four Poles were brutally beaten in the town of Harlow in southeastern England, with one man dying from his injuries. (rg)