Berlin: Turkish MP beaten up for ordering food on Ramadan (or not)
A Turkish MP of the Berlin parliament, Özcan Mutlu (Greens), recently entered a shop and ordered pork sausages. Somehow this led to a fight and mutual complaints of assault, but what happened exactly depends on which newspaper you read.
The story was reported in English by the Assyrian agency AINA, which got the name of the MP wrong. According to AINA, Mutlu was beaten up for ordering food on Ramadan.
According to German newspaper Die Welt, Mutlu complained about the high price of the food to which the 20 year old seller and his brother replied that he shouldn't even be buying it in the first place, since he's a Muslim and shouldn't be eating pork or eating on Ramadan. Mutlu told Die Welt that the argument escalated because of the intolerance of young Muslims. He said he's been fighting for the past 20 years for equality for all religions and cultures in Germany, and now he's being told when he's allowed to eat by these juvenile delinquents.
According to Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman, Mutlu says that the media distorted the story. “I cannot understand how they media sources which published the distorted news reports over him make up such things. They are not true at all.”
Personally I'd go with Die Welt's version. Mutlu wasn't refused service, but an argument about price escalated into an all-out fight when religion was brought into it.
