Fischer Apologizes for 1973 Attack

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer apologized for attacking a police officer during his days as a militant radical in the 1970s but rejected calls to resign. Fischer’s past in the leftist student scene arose again this week ahead of his scheduled testimony Jan. 16 at the trial of a former fellow militant charged with murder in a 1975 attack on a meeting of OPEC oil ministers. Stern magazine published photographs showing a helmet-clad Fischer at a 1973 protest beating and kicking an officer. In an interview with the magazine, Fischer, 52, acknowledged that he had scuffled with police. Fischer said Thursday that using violence had been a “big mistake.”