A 31-year-old German man verbally abused and physically attacked a 15-year-old refugee from Afghanistan. He hit the teen in the head, kicked his head on the ground, and performed a Nazi salute in Vogtland, southwestern Saxony.

Police have classified the assault as a xenophobic attack. The incident happened on a train late Saturday, DPA reported. According to witnesses, the man, who boarded the train at a station in Vogtland, near the Czech border, started to verbally insult the Afghan teen and his two Syrian companions.

The assailant made xenophobic statements and performed a Hitler salute. Just before the train reached Jocketa, the suspect punched the Afghan refugee in the head, Die Freie Presse reported.

Read more

The teenagers got out of the train at a stop near Plauen, but the man followed them and continued to attack the Afghan boy, hitting him in the head several times with his fist before kicking his head against the ground, according to police.

The teenager was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Police did not give further details on the extent of the injuries. “We want to protect the victim,” Tom Bernhardt, a press secretary of the Saxon State Criminal Police Office, told the newspaper.

Police have classified the assault as a xenophobic attack. The man, who was recorded with 1.9 per mille of alcohol in his blood, is now being investigated for a crime with racist motive. “It is quite likely that a right-radical background is present,” Bernhardt said, adding that the “investigation just began.” The teen was released from the hospital on Monday.

A conductor might have prevented the attack on the Afghan refugee, but only the driver was on the train, and he did not notice anything in the control room, Die Freie Presse reported.