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Police arrest man who shot at papal security officers

Police arrested a man suspected of shooting at papal mass security officers early on Saturday morning in Erfurt, eastern Germany.

Published: 24 September 2011 11:52 CEST

Police arrest man who shot at papal security officers

Photo: DPA

A security officer reported feeling a pain in her leg, before looking down and seeing an airgun pellet on the ground near her foot, according to Eckhard Deutschmann, spokesman for the Erfurt police.

He said several shots were fired between 7 am and 8 am – aimed at the security officers controlling the entrance to the Domplatz where Pope Benedict XVI was due to say mass just a couple of hours later.

Police said no-one was injured, but that they had established that the shots had come from a nearby attic flat, where several people were to be found.

Officers tried to make contact with them, and then, according to reports, waited until the end of the mass before breaking down the door and arresting a man.

The pope’s retinue immediately seemed sure the incident had nothing to do with him.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said it was “an incident that had nothing to do with the pope” and that “the pope has not been informed.”

“No one noticed,” Lombardi said. The shots were fired two hours before Benedict began his celebration of the mass for around 30,000 people.

“According to the German police, it seems to be the action of an unbalanced person,” added Lombardi.

Security for the pope’s visit Germany has been extremely tight. Large parts of Berlin, Erfurt and Freiburg were locked down for the trip amid a colossal police presence. People living along the route along which the pope was due to drive in Berlin were told to keep their windows closed as he passed by.

DPAD/AFP/The Local/hc

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Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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