A drunk man gave a 15-year-old refugee from Afghanistan a Hitler salute on Saturday before attacking him so brutally that he required treatment in hospital.

The 31-year-old German citizen boarded the train at a station in Saxony near the border to the Czech Republic. At a subsequent stop the 15 year old entered the train with two Syrian companions.

According to accounts given by the teenagers, the man started to insult them in the train and gave them the Hitler salute. He then punched the young Afghan in the face.

The teenagers got out of the train at a stop near Plauen, but the man followed them and started to physically assault the young Afghan.

[link to www.thelocal.de (secure)]