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Austria

Man charged with carving swastika into cyclist's forehead

He and three others are accused of trying to force the victim to leave his neighbourhood.

Knife crimes on the up File photo ALAN SIMPSON / PA ALAN SIMPSON / PA / PA

A MAN IS in custody in Austria after he and three accomplices assaulted a cyclist and carved a swastika into his forehead, prosecutors said today.

The victim had been cycling through the town of Bad Fischau-Brunn, south of Vienna, when the masked suspects pushed him to the ground, beat him and attacked him with a knife, said Erich Habitzl, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.

It looks like the victim knew his attackers and the reason behind the attack was to force him and his family to move out of their home by mid-October.

The main suspect is facing charges of assault and re-engagement in National Socialist activities over the incident late last month, while his accomplices were “known to police” but have not been detained, Habitzl said.

He stressed it was not yet clear whether those involved in the incident had links to far-right groups.

The attack is reminiscent of US film director Quentin Tarantino’s movie Inglorious Basterds, in which a group of Jewish American soldiers punish Nazis by carving swastikas into their foreheads during World War II.

Read: Teenager sentenced to 11 years in jail for carving swastika on boy’s forehead>

Read: Unionists condemn ‘evil’ Swastika flown near Loyalist bonfire>

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