BERLIN – Nigerian officials canceled plans to stay in the Brandenburg state capital on a trade mission over fears for their safety after an African-born man was brutally attacked there, a hotel manager said Thursday.
The 15-strong Nigerian delegation was to check into Potsdam's Voltaire Hotel on Wednesday and stay for a week, but pulled out after hearing about the weekend attack, director Beate Fernengel said.
"They just didn't have the courage to come here after that and are staying instead in Berlin," Fernengel said.
A 37-year-old Ethiopian-born German man suffered life-threatening head and brain injuries in a beating at a tram stop in Potsdam early Sunday. The attack appeared racially motivated, stirring concern about neo-Nazi violence.
The chamber of commerce in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, had invited the Nigerian government and business representatives to a conference on bilateral business ties that began Thursday.
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