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German army in 'racist video' row
A video aired on German TV has shown an army recruit on firing practice being ordered to pretend he was in New York's Bronx facing hostile African Americans.
In the grainy 90-second video, the instructor tells the soldier to swear as he fires his gun.
US civil rights leader, Al Sharpton, said it was outrageous to depict blacks as "target practice".
New York officials say they are saddened and frustrated that the Bronx district is depicted so negatively.
"Clearly these folks don't know anything about African-Americans or the Bronx," said Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion Jnr, who recently returned from a trip to Germany to promote tourism to the district.
He has demanded an apology from the Germany military over the clip.
Skulls
During the filmed training session, an instructor tells the soldier: "You're in the Bronx, a black van pulls up in front of you and three African-Americans get out and start really insulting your mother... act!".
The soldier then fires his gun several times and shouts obscenities in English, as the instructor encourages him to curse even louder.
The clip was filmed in a forest in July 2006, near the barracks of the northern German town of Rendsburg .
The German army said it has been aware of the video since January and was investigating it.
It is the latest in a series of scandals to hit the German military.
A group of 18 army instructors are on trial in the country accused of abusing and humiliating recruits during training in 2004.
More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6556643.stm
US civil rights leader, Al Sharpton, said it was outrageous to depict blacks as "target practice".
New York officials say they are saddened and frustrated that the Bronx district is depicted so negatively.
"Clearly these folks don't know anything about African-Americans or the Bronx," said Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion Jnr, who recently returned from a trip to Germany to promote tourism to the district.
He has demanded an apology from the Germany military over the clip.
Skulls
During the filmed training session, an instructor tells the soldier: "You're in the Bronx, a black van pulls up in front of you and three African-Americans get out and start really insulting your mother... act!".
The soldier then fires his gun several times and shouts obscenities in English, as the instructor encourages him to curse even louder.
The clip was filmed in a forest in July 2006, near the barracks of the northern German town of Rendsburg .
The German army said it has been aware of the video since January and was investigating it.
It is the latest in a series of scandals to hit the German military.
A group of 18 army instructors are on trial in the country accused of abusing and humiliating recruits during training in 2004.
More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6556643.stm
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Stern news magazine said in its online edition on Saturday that the video was shot in July 2006 in army barracks in the northern city of Rendsburg.
Excerpts from the video were shown on German television.
A barracks spokesman confirmed the existence of the video and said the instructor shown had been posted elsewhere.
Racist abuse
The video, which has been viewed by AFP, shows the instructor first telling recruits to imagine they were fighting plane hijackers. At the end of the exercise he congratulates them, saying "That's good, the terrorists are dead."
He then tells them: "Now you're in the Bronx. A black truck stops in front of you. Three African-Americans get out and insult your mother grossly." The recruits are then told to pull the trigger after abusing the African-Americans.
The junior soldier is then shown executing the order, shouting the required obscenity before each shot, encouraged by his superior.
In Bonn, an armed forces spokesman said the army had launched an internal inquiry into the incident, possibly leading to disciplinary measures against two instructors.
The German army is already being haunted by other scandals.
In the northwestern city of Muenster, 18 German soldiers are on trial for alleged mistreatment of 163 recruits with electrical shocks.
Last year, German soldiers were photographed in Afghanistan, posing with human remains.
An inquiry involving 20 soldiers was launched, and six have already been suspended from duty.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9D9F1C9E-373A-4828-BD18-086B25F20B7E.htm