Germany's Turks take their revenge on writer

Germany's Turkish community has taken revenge on Thilo Sarrazin, whose book denouncing Muslim immigrants as welfare-dependent under-achievers with too many children has sold 1.3 million copies.

The 66-year-old author of Germany Is Doing Away With Itself was invited by a television channel to tour Berlin's largely Turkish Kreuzberg district to speak to residents about his views, including his assertion that many Turks are only useful as greengrocers.

Mr Sarrazin was mobbed, derided as a racist, and shouted at by passers-by wherever he went. The coup de grâce was delivered by Mehmet Ozkan, manager of a renowned Turkish restaurant that Mr Sarrazin approached for a table. Mr Ozkan barred his way. "We Turks are usually very hospitable," he told him, "but I don't think I can serve you." Mr Sarrazin and the TV crew had to leave "like beaten dogs" as Mr Sarrazin put it.