Man dies after gang beat him up in Berlin

Police are appealing for witnesses after a young man was beaten to death by a gang in the centre of Berlin early on Sunday morning, in what appears to have been a completely unprovoked attack.The capital’s interior minister Frank Henkel said he was deeply shocked, and called for an honest debate about violence in Germany. "We cannot close our eyes to this problem and silently look on as brutalisation and coldness spread through our centre, and reduce inhibitions,” he said.

Although he said he wanted to increase security in the central area of the city where the attack took place, he also said the problem began in the heads of the attackers. "Some have obviously lost all civilised standards. That is a challenge for all of us,” he said.

The 20-year-old German-Vietnamese man had left a bar on Alexanderplatz with two friends at around 4 am on Sunday after a heavy night out. All three were very drunk, the Die Welt newspaper said on Monday.

Because their friend was too intoxicated to walk, his two companions sat him down on a chair in a closed beer garden and went off to find a taxi.

Within minutes the helpless man was targeted by a man who kicked the chair away from under him, the paper said. (continue reading...)