Boris Becker's son presses charges after racist slur

[MenInG]

Berlin - The son of former tennis star Boris Becker has pressed charges against a German nationalist lawmaker who insulted him with a racist slur, his lawyer said Thursday.

Lawyer Christian-Oliver Moser told The Associated Press that charges were filed on behalf of Noah Becker following "unbearable and racist remarks" from the Twitter account of nationalist lawmaker Jens Maier.

The tweet emerged after an article in a German magazine in which Noah, 23, said Berlin was a "white city" compared with London or Paris, and that he'd been attacked there because of his skin color.

Noah Becker is the son of three-time Wimbledon champion and his ex-wife Barbara Becker, who has a German mother and an African-American father. He works as an artist and musician and lives in Berlin.

In the interview with emotion magazine, which first published excerpts on Tuesday, Noah Becker was asked if he has experienced racism in Berlin.

"Yes, I have also been attacked because of my brown skin color," he said. "In comparison to London or Paris, Berlin is a white city."

Maier, a member of the Alternative for Germany party, reacted Tuesday by posting a racist slur on Twitter that he later deleted.

The lawmaker later denied writing the controversial Tweet himself. He said one of his employees had written the tweet, the German news agency dpa reported.

Last year Maier, a judge from the eastern German state of Saxony, was reprimanded by a court in Dresden for using far-right slogans, according to dpa.

Maier is one of 92 members of the nationalist Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party which was elected to Germany's national parliament for the first time in September.

Earlier this week, another prominent member of the AfD ran into trouble with police and Twitter over her response to a Cologne police tweet offering New Year greetings in Arabic.

Lawmaker Beatrix von Storch tweeted her objections to the police tweet, saying: "Do they think they will calm the barbaric, Muslim, group-raping hordes of men this way?"

Von Storch's Twitter account was blocked for several hours Monday over a suspected breach of rules on hate speech. Police said Tuesday they filed a criminal complaint to prosecutors over suspected incitement.

New Year celebrations in Cologne were overshadowed two years ago when hundreds of women complained of being groped and robbed, mostly by groups of migrants.

The AfD is known for its aggressive stance against Muslims and migrants.

https://www.sport24.co.za/Tennis/boris-beckers-son-presses-charges-after-racist-slur-20180104

 

[Gabbar Singh]

The AfD are pure filth. It’s disappointing that they got so many votes in the German general election.

What the MP actually said:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp....becker-son-noah-press-charges-mp-racist-tweet

Boris Becker's son to press charges over AfD MP's 'clearly racist' tweet
Jens Maier of far-right Alternative für Deutschland party called 23-year-old Noah Becker ‘little half-*****’

 

[MenInG]

Boris Becker has said an Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP accused of posting a "clearly racist" tweet about his son must now face "consequences".

The German tennis champion said that an attempt by Jens Maier to distance himself from the post was a "trick".

It comes after a tweet posted on the far-right politician's account referred to Noah Becker as "little half-*****".

Noah Becker has an African-American grandfather on his mother's side. Mr Maier denies writing the tweet.

The post has since been deleted from the Twitter account linked to Mr Maier, who has blamed one of his staff members.

In a column written for the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Mr Becker said the denial by Mr Maier was a common response from members of Germany's AfD party.

"That's what the AfD always does; it's their trick: put something out there in the world and then distance yourself from it," he wrote.

He also praised his 23-year-old son Noah, who is pressing charges over the incident, for his ability to "fight hatred with love".

In an interview with Vice magazine on Friday, Noah said that some people simply needed to be more "open".

"[Noah] said that those who don't know the world, who haven't seen people with different skin colours or people who think differently, become scared," Mr Becker wrote.

"I have to admit he's one step ahead of me - I want there to be consequences first," the three-time Wimbledon champion added.

Noah, a DJ, is the son of tennis champion Becker and his ex-wife Barbara Becker
The tweet posted on Mr Maier's account was written in response to an interview Noah Becker gave in which he described Berlin as "a white city" compared to other European capitals, and said he had been attacked there because of his skin colour.

"It seems the little half-***** simply got too little attention - that's the only explanation for his behaviour," the message posted to Mr Maier's account on Tuesday said, in German.

Mr Maier is the parliamentary deputy for the AfD party, which received almost 13% of the vote and won over 90 seats in last year's election.

'Clearly racist'

"I have been retained to quickly take the necessary steps under criminal and civil law against MP Jens Maier on the basis of this clearly racist tweet," Becker family lawyer Christian-Oliver Moser told Bild, a German newspaper.

He told the Associated Press news agency that charges were filed on behalf of Noah Becker on Thursday.

Two other members of the far-right political party are being investigated over anti-Muslim messages they posted on New Year's Eve.

On 1 January, a law requiring social media companies to act quickly against hate speech came into force in Germany. Platforms that don't may face fines of up to 50m euros (£44.3m).

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42597842?ocid=socialflow_twitter