Berlin's public transport company BVG said it would rename a city centre metro station that has become notorious for bearing a name based on a derogatory word for Black people. Berlin's BVG said that the "Mohrenstrasse" metro station - literally Moor Street, using the medieval term for people from North Africa, would be renamed after another nearby street, the Glinkastrasse, named after 19th century Russian composer Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. The station, a few hundred metres from the Brandenburg Gate at the very centre of Berlin, has born a string of names since it was opened in 1908. Last month, unidentified activists taped over the station's entrance, temporarily naming it "George Floyd Street". "Out of respect for the sometimes controversial debate about the street name, BVG has decided not to use it to name the metro station any longer," it said.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 03, 2020 18:31 UTC