7 Migrants Charged with Attempted Murder After Homeless Man Nearly Set on Fire

German prosecutors say suspects came to Berlin as asylum seekers from Syria, Libya

CBC News 

The Schoenleinstrasse subway station in Berlin is pictured in this 2010 file photo.

German police have charged seven males between ages 15 and 21 with attempted murder

after they allegedly tried to set a homeless man on fire in the subway station early

Sunday morning. (Tobias Kleinschmidt/dpa via Associated Press/file photo)

Police have charged seven young migrants with attempted murder after they allegedly tried to set a homeless man on fire in a Berlin subway station, Germany's broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports.

The 37-year-old was sleeping on a bench in the Schoenleinstrasse subway station at around 2 a.m. Sunday. Passersby extinguished the paper that he apparently had used to cover himself, and a train driver used a fire extinguisher to prevent the flames from spreading.

The man, who was intoxicated, was unhurt.

Six of those charged turned themselves in Monday evening and the seventh was arrested after authorities released surveillance camera pictures and video footage of them in a subway train, German police said Tuesday.

They're all male and between 15 and 21 years old. Six are from Syria and one is from Libya, and all came to Berlin as asylum seekers, according to prosecutors.

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