Turkish politician attacked by racists in Berlin-Lichtenberg

This is really weird because last night I was riding my bike through Lichtenburg, which isn't too far from the house, and I noticed more than one set of potential skinhead-types. With my bald head, boots and facial scar, I fell into the skinhead-type too, so it was a stalemate. (Didn't Slow Death strike a blow for non-racially-motivated baldheads?)

Even weirder is that this attack comes on the heels of the notorious Uwe-Karsten Heye quote: "There are small and mid-sized cities in Brandenburg and elsewhere, where I would not advise anyone with a different skin color to go. He wouldn't probably be able to leave the area alive." We're a little out of that description, but still: did he hire these goons, or what? I'm not going to say that racial attacks don't happen in Berlin or anything ridiculous like that, but the timing is impeccable.

I still think Heye is grandstanding to bring attention to the fact that we have too much racial violence in Germany -- any is too much, right? Things happen, but I'm still unconvinced that any part of Germany is really dangerous, even if you're the wrong race for the neighborhood. Of course, I've been getting by rather well on my skin/eye color, so who am I to talk?