Migrant groups say racist attacks increase in German city after deadly Christmas market violence

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — When Haben Gebregergish first immigrated to the German city of Magdeburg seven years ago, the Eritrean immigrant was walking to the supermarket with her child when an intoxicated woman approached her on the street.

At the time, Gebregergish did not speak German well enough to comprehend what the woman was saying. But Gebregergish says that when the woman threw a beer bottle at her head, she immediately understood.

It was one of her first encounters with racism, but certainly not the last. In the aftermath of a deadly attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg late last year, Gebregergish and other migrants who have settled in the city say they have experienced a sharp increase in racism and anti-immigration sentiments.

“We are the same as you,” Gebregergish said earlier this month. "We are not different. Just like you, we have feelings. Sometimes we are sad, sometimes we are happy, just like everyone else.”

The Christmas market violence was one of five high-profile attacks committed by immigrants in the past nine months that have made migration a key issue as the country heads toward an early election on Sunday. The suspect, a Saudi doctor, drove into the holiday market teeming with shoppers and left five women and a 9-year-old boy dead and 200 people injured.

The suspect arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency, and authorities say the suspect does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. He is being held in custody as authorities investigate him.

Just one day after Dec. 20 violence, there was a large right-wing demonstration in Magdeburg, and verbal and physical attacks on people with a migrant background have increased significantly in the city since then, according to the German-Syrian Cultural Association in Magdeburg.

“The migrant community and the advice centers report that attacks have increased by more than 70% here in the city," said Saeeid Saeeid, who came to Germany from Syria seven years ago and is a member of the association. "Racism already exists here and everywhere. But it has increased enormously since the attack.”

Ketevan Asatiani-Hermann, newly elected chair of the board for the Advisory Council for Integration and Migration in Magdeburg, said victims of racist attacks in the city often do not feel support from politicians or police.

“The hatred has always been there, people just didn’t dare to say it so clearly before,” said Asatiani-Hermann, who came to Magdeburg in 2011 from Georgia.

Officers sometimes target or search the victims first before the perpetrator, she alleged, and they also worry reporting an attack could have a negative impact on their residence status.

The Magdeburg Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Mayor Simone Borris, in a statement, said: “Cohesion and community are fundamental values of a city that are inviolable." The mayor also referred media to online services for migrants, and said the city's Cooperation with the Advisory Council for Integration and Migration will be expanded.

Magdeburg is located in the former communist east, an area where the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has its highest support. The party is polling in second place going into the upcoming election with about 20% support and is fielding its first candidate to lead the country.

Even though it’s highly unlikely to take a share of power soon, it has become a factor that other politicians can’t ignore and has helped shape Germany’s debate on migration.

The election's outcome — and a potential gain in influence for AfD — could have a large impact on Magdeburg's politics and everyday life, Asatiani-Hermann said.

Saeeid said the city's migrants feel alone, and want to hear directly from their elected officials to address their concerns.

"We will not allow Magdeburg to become a playing field for racism and hatred,” he said.

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Dazio reported from Berlin.

ADDS TRANSLATION OF POSTERS - Defaces election posters of Green Party top candidate and federal minister for economy Robert Habeck, right, and FDP top candidate and former finance minister Christian Lindner, are seen is a street, in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. Posters read "Oh you stinks to me," right, and "Even Grandma said, Germany, you're a son of a bitch." (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Saeeid Saeeid, 25 years old Syrian immigrant who has lived and worked in Magdeburg for 6 years, poses for a photo in a street, in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Haben Gebregergish, 26, Eritrean immigrant who has lived and worked in Magdeburg for 7 years, left, and Saeeid Saeeid, 25, Syrian immigrant who has lived and worked in Magdeburg for 6 years stand for a photo in a street, in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Defaces election posters of Green Party top candidate and federal minister for economy Robert Habeck, right, and FDP top candidate and former finance minister Christian Lindner, are seen is a street, in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

An anti AFD slogan is seen written on a bridge in the city of Magdeburg, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Haben Gebregergish, 26 years old Eritrean immigrant who has lived and worked in Magdeburg for 7 years, poses for a photo in a street, in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

An election poster of the far-right anti-immigrant party Alternative For Germany party AfD, with with the slogan reading "It's time for a country that is still a home country", is displayed in a street, in Magdeburg, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

An election poster of the far-right anti-immigrant party Alternative For Germany party AfD, with the slogan reading "It's time for free opinion, is displayed in a street, in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

An election poster showing AfD top candidate for Chancellor Alice Weidel is displayed in a street in Magdeburg, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

An election poster of the far-right anti-immigrant party Alternative For Germany party AfD, with with the slogan reading "It's time for a country that is still a home country", is displayed in a street, in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

LONDON (AP) — The BBC will ask a court to throw out U.S. President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the British broadcaster, court papers show.

Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim, filed in a Florida court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.

The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.

The BBC had broadcast the documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

The broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it had defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.

Papers filed Monday with Florida’s Southern District court say the BBC will file a motion to dismiss the case on the basis that the court lacks jurisdiction, the court venue is “improper” and Trump has “failed to state a claim.”

The broadcaster’s lawyers will argue that the BBC did not create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that Trump’s claim the documentary was available in the U.S. on streaming service BritBox is not true.

It will also argue that Trump has failed to “plausibly allege” the BBC acted with malice in airing the documentary.

The BBC is asking the court to “to stay all other discovery” — the pretrial process in which parties gather information — pending a decision on the motion to dismiss. The discovery process could require the BBC to hand over reams of emails and other documents related to its coverage of Trump.

If the case continues, a 2027 trial date has been proposed.

“As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case,” the BBC said Tuesday in a statement. “We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)