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July 25, 2008 11:54:58 AM CDT

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Immigrants Fire Back at Xenophobic Campaign*

Posted Jan 10, 08 11:57 AM CST in World 

(Newser) – Germany’s immigrants are fed up with Roland Koch, whose bid for reelection as governor of the state of Hesse is exacerbating racial tensions, Der Spiegel reports. Koch seized upon a December subway beating to blast "criminal young foreigners," and the rhetoric quickly escalated to anti-immigrant rant, portraying them as barely civilized brutes. A coalition of more than 100 immigrant groups has responded with an angry open letter.

The letter—sent today to Koch and Chancellor Angela Merkel, both members of the conservative Christian Democrats—accuses the governor of “feeding prejudice." Last summer  Merkel sponsored an "Integration Summit," an effort undermined by her backing of Koch, an immigrant leader says. "Using minorities as scapegoats is nothing new. Koch is running a witch hunt. I hope it will become a problem for him."

Source Der Spiegel

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Young men chat together near Kieferngarten Underground Station on January 3, 2007 in Munich, Germany. After an elder man was attacked by juvenile criminals in a Munich Metro Station, Roland Koch, State...   (Getty Images)
Roland Koch, Governor of Hesse, speaks during the 21st party congress of the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU) on December 4, 2007 in Hanover, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)   (Getty Images)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel walks past Hesse's State Premier Roland Koch during a conference of their conservative CDU party 05 January 2008 in Wiesbaden, western Germany. The meeting takes place...   (Getty Images)
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