Muslim woman wearing headscarf attacked in Berlin

BERLIN: A suspected far-right extremist verbally and physically assaulted a Muslim woman at a Berlin metro station, police said on Monday.

The incident was the latest in a string of xenophobic attacks in the German capital in recent months targeting people of foreign appearance, including Muslim women with headscarf or Jews wearing a kippah.

The 33-year old Muslim woman told police on Sunday that a man uttered racial slurs and later assaulted her at the Greifswalder metro station.

The suspected far-right extremist showed the illegal Nazi salute before running away from the scene, she said. The woman received medical treatment for her injuries, according to the police.

Germany has witnessed growing violence by far-right extremists in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of neo-Nazi groups and the Islamophobic AfD party.

Every day, at least three people become a victim of far-right, racist or xenophobic acts of violence in Germany, according to the VBRG, an umbrella group of counseling centers for victims of right-wing violence.