Black Germans worry if more votes for far-right in state elections will mean more racism

(27 Aug 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Erfurt, Germany - 14 August 2024
1. Wide of Erfurt
2. Various of Guinean migrant Omar Diallo
3. Close Diallo’s hands
4. SOUNDBITE (German) Omar Diallo, migrant from Guinea: ++PART COVERED BY SHOTS 2 & 5++
“Suddenly there were big men dressed in black and they were shouting: 'What do you want here, f--king foreigners, get out!'. One of us was caught and very, very, very brutally beaten, so that he was in hospital for three days and couldn't do anything. They threw a bottle at me, luckily I was able to evade that.”
5. Diallo walking
6. Wide of buildings

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Suhl, Germany - 13 August 2024
7. Wide of Alternative for Germany (AfD) supporters holding German flags
8. Various of election posters

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Erfurt, Germany - 14 August 2024
9. SOUNDBITE (German) Doreen Denstaedt, Thuringia minister for migration and justice: ++PART COVERED BY SHOTS 7 & 8++
“I think that both right-wing, conservative right-wing forces and authoritarian populist forces, which are becoming very strong here in Thuringia, harbor a great danger. There is a huge danger that this, namely that it will lead to a normalisation, that certain narratives will spread to the middle of society and become mainstream. That's my biggest concern.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jena, Germany - 13 August 2024
10. Chemist originally from Cameroon and AMAH organization founder Daniel Elbe walking and looking at election posters

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Erfurt, Germany - 14 August 2024
11. Far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) poster reading (German) "The East does it! Summer, sun, remigration'”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jena, Germany - 13 August 2024
12. SOUNDBITE (German) Daniel Egbe, chemist originally from Cameroon: ++PART COVERED BY SHOTS 10 & 11++
“We are heading (to the elections) with a certain fear. Nobody really wants the right-wing party to come to power. Even if the worst happens, we will stay here. We will not leave, and we must do our part to change this society.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Erfurt, Germany - 14 August 2024
13. People walking on street
STORYLINE:
It was a balmy summer night in 2020, Germany's first lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic had just been lifted, when Omar Diallo and two of his friends wanted to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice.

Diallo, a 22-year-old migrant from Guinea in West Africa, told the Associated Press during a recent interview in Erfurt, the capital of the eastern German state of Thuringia, that he and his friends were "enjoying life, playing music, walking through the city at night" when the evening took a tragic turn.

As they strolled through a park, past a huge, dilapidated storage building, they were all of a sudden confronted by three black-cladded, white men.

“They were shouting: ‘What do you want here? f**king foreigners. Get out’,” Diallo remembered, his eyes still filled with horror as he recalls that night.

Diallo doesn't remember how long they were being hunted, but at some point he managed to call police, and when the officers finally arrived, the attackers ran away.

One of his friends, both were also from Guinea, was beaten up so badly that he had to be hospitalized.

Being Black in Germany has always meant being exposed to racism in its many forms, from everyday humiliations to deadly attacks.

However, being Black in eastern Germany means the likelihood of becoming a victim of racism may be even higher, experts say.







Elections are also coming up in the eastern state of Saxony and Brandenburg where the AfD is also leading in the polls.



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