Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Pensioner fined for tear gas assault over dog poo

A 69-year-old Düsseldorf man was fined €1,500 for attacking a neighbour with tear gas after a dispute over dog poop escalated, a court ruled on Wednesday.

Published: 10 June 2009 16:06 CEST
Pensioner fined for tear gas assault over dog poo
Photo: DPA

The victim of the August 2007 assault, a 69-year-old neighbour, died shortly afterward from a ruptured abdominal artery. However, it could not be determined during the trial whether the man’s injuries were the result of the tear gas attack or other existing illnesses he suffered. As a result, the defendant was tried on the lesser charge of assault.

The defendent was apparently upset at how his neighbour removed dog droppings from the entrace of their apartment building. The two men argued over the poop, which lead to a violent scuffle including metal rake. Finally, the defendant pulled out the tear gas and sprayed the victim.

Half of the €1,500 fine will be paid to the victim’s survivors and the other half will go to the state.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

SHOW COMMENTS