E/CN.4/2000/16 page 22 approximately 2 a.m. on that day when he was insulted, attacked and tied up with string and wire and then left in a building in the same street, by five persons between ages 25 and 30 with shaved heads and wearing boots and short-sleeved shirts. They said that they had acted in that way “because he was Black”. 86. The measures then taken to verify the facts and to identify the attackers yielded no results; the victim was shown a large number of photographs of skinheads and other persons with past records of participation in other xenophobic or racist attacks, but recognized none of them. Likewise, the other inquiries effected among neo-Nazi and skinhead groups yielded nothing. It was impossible to verify whether the attack had in fact taken place. The owners of the building in Vía Urrea where the complainant was abandoned, and the people living near that building, were also unable to provide any information. (f) Granollers (Barcelona) 87. A group of youths insult and beat a Senegalese national (April 1997). Six youths aged between 18 and 20, after calling David K., aged 32, married to a Catalan woman and the father of two children, a “dirty nigger”, waited for him to park his car and walk towards his brother’s house to accost him once again and beat him with iron bars. Government reply 88. In complaint No. 1475 dated 5 April 1997, Diskhaby Koumera, bearer of identity papers No. X-1512873-W, born on 3 July 1964 at Diakha Medina (Senegal), the son of Bangali and Sira, residing at 8 Vía Argimón, Flat 2, in Barcelona, stated that four persons had insulted him in the street, calling him a “dirty nigger” and a “negro son of a whore”. It appears that the complainant, who had protested at their insults, was attacked by the youths with sticks and sprays. 89. Officers of the national police force attempted to undertake the necessary inquiries to establish the facts; but their efforts were unrewarded as no witnesses came forward. However, according to information provided by persons living in the area, the incident did not take place in the manner in which it was reported. It began when three persons, including the complainant, passed by four other persons sitting on a bench who made a jocular remark about the straw hat one of the Black youths was wearing. 90. The subjects of the remark must have resented it. Tempers rose, and the two groups picked up short lengths of electric cable lying on the ground with the intent of beating each other. Contrary to what the complainant stated, in no case did they use sticks. The scuffle did not develop further, because the inhabitants of the area who were in the neighbourhood intervened. 91. Subsequently the complainant stated his version of the facts and on the following Monday took part in a radio broadcast to denounce the incident publicly. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood consistently refused to tell the police who were the presumed attackers, because they considered that all concerned shared responsibility for the incident. A few days later the association of the inhabitants of the district held a meeting, at which representatives of