Germany: Memorial oak for far-right attack felled
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A left-wing group in Germany says it has chopped down an oak tree planted just days earlier to commemorate one of the country's worst post-war racist attacks.
The group calling itself AG anti-fascist Foxtail says it felled the tree Tuesday night to protest the use of a symbol of German nationalism as a memorial to those who suffered during the 1992 far-right riot in Rostock's Lichtenhagen district.
During the riot far-right extremists threw firebombs at an apartment block inhabited by foreigners as hundreds of bystanders cheered on.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rostock police spokeswoman Isabel Wenzel confirmed Wednesday that the tree had been "trimmed by several meters."
She says police have opened a criminal investigation into willful property damage.
The oak was planted Sunday at a memorial event attended by German President Joachim Gauck.