According to the man, the youths started hurling insults at him before demanding that he remove his costume. Upon refusing, the gang began attacking him an trying to rip his costume off while shouting that he was a foreigner in their country. The irony being that the “foreigner” is a German, “their country” is Germany, and the youths themselves are all Muslim migrants.

According to Remix, an English-language website which focuses on news in Central Europe:

The attackers were reportedly between 14 and 16 years of age with black hair, and were dressed in dark clothing, the man told the police.

After filing a complaint with the authorities, the case was assigned to the state security agency, as is customary when a political motive cannot be ruled out.

“The state security agency has taken over the investigation on suspicion of bodily harm, insults, and damage to property,” police spokeswoman Ulrike Schaake confirmed.

As if attacking a middle-aged man you outnumber wasn’t cowardly enough, the gang ran away the moment the man managed to hit one of them back. Something that wouldn’t even have been necessary if any of the people witnessing the attack had stepped in to help him. Rather than do that, however, they laughed and applauded, according to the victim. But this did little to dampen the man’s Christmas spirit.

Once he recovered from the attack, he continued to his performance, albeit with a heavily damaged costume which prevented him from being able to take pictures with the children at the event. When speaking with local media, the man insisted this attack won’t prevent him from continuing his role as Santa Claus, though he’s going to be carrying pepper spray, next time.