TIME WAITER WITH NO FIXED ADDRESS, FACED A PRISON SENTENCE IF CONVICTED. THERE WAS A DANGER HE COULD FLEE THE COUNTRY ONCE HE WAS RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL. THE ALLEGED ATTACK COINCIDED WITH A SPATE OF MUCH PUBLICIZED NEO-NAZI ASSAULTS IN AREAS SURROUNDING BERLIN. IN ONE CASE, TWO MEN WITH RIGHT-WING LEANINGS ARE IN CUSTODY FOR THE SAVAGE BEATING OF AN ETHIOPIAN-BORN GERMAN CITIZEN IN THE CITY OF POTSDAM. EARLIER THIS WEEK, A GERMAN NEO-NAZI WHO GOOSE-STEPPED UP TO A GROUP OF POLISH TOURISTS AND BEGAN PUNCHING AND KICKING THEM WAS JAILED FOR 13 MONTHS. MOST OF THE ATTACKS TOOK PLACE IN FORMERLY COMMUNIST EASTERN GERMANY, WHERE SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS OF WORKING-CLASS YOUTHS IN AREAS BLIGHTED BY ECONOMIC COLLAPSE HAVE JOINED NEO-NAZI STREET GANGS. THIS WEEK A FORMER GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN UNDER CHANCELLOR GERHARD SCHROEDER ADVISED PEOPLE WITH DARK SKIN COMING TO GERMANY FOR THE WORLD CUP NEXT MONTH NOT TO VISIT AREAS SURROUNDING BERLIN BECAUSE THERE WAS A DANGER THEY WOULD BE ATTACKED.
