Three youths charged in France over 'racist' attack on Chinese students

Three youths have been charged and detained in France over a racist attack on six Chinese students in the European nation's wine-making region that has been condemned by both Beijing and Paris, officials said yesterday.

The youths, aged 19 and 20, were charged on Sunday night with aggravated violence, using or threatening to use arms, as well as drunkenness, the prosecutor's office in Bordeaux said.

They were then placed under detention, it added.

The three had hurled racist insults when they assaulted the students early on Saturday at their home in Hostens, a small village about 50 kilometres south of Bordeaux in southwest France.

A female student's face was seriously injured by a glass bottle that was thrown at her. She was admitted from hospital and underwent surgery.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed "strong condemnation" over the attack on the oenology students.