Berlin Sera Tousjours Berlin

Americans weeping for a fabled EUrotopia of their very own have a hard time coming to grips with the real, living, every day life of “EUrotopia”

An incident at a Berlin subway station at the weekend in which a man was savagely beaten by a drunken youth has raised concerns that penalties for crimes of this kind are not severe enough.

The incident in question – one of a string of similar crimes in recent years - involved a 28-year-old who was confronted by an 18-year-old youth on the platform of the Friedrichstrasse subway station in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The youth provoked the man, then punched him in the face and repeatedly kicked and stamped on his head. The brutal attack was captured on the station's CCTV. A passing tourist stepped in to diffuse the situation and was himself attacked by the youth who then fled, together with an accomplice.