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Germany opens probe against Strasbourg attack suspect

German prosecutors have launched an investigation into the suspect in the deadly gun attack at a Christmas market along the French-German border, a spokesman for the service said Thursday.

Published: 13 December 2018 15:43 CET
Germany opens probe against Strasbourg attack suspect
An ambulance near the scene of the attack on Tuesday night. Photo: DPA

Cherif Chekatt, 29, is under investigation for alleged murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, Markus Schmitt, a spokesman for German prosecutors said, confirming a report in the Tagesspiegel daily.

The German probe runs in parallel with the French investigation, Schmitt added.

Chekatt was jailed for burglary in Germany in 2016 but was not deemed a potentially dangerous Islamist, German authorities said Wednesday.

Even though Tuesday evening's attack took place on French soil, several German nationals were present at the site during the assault. They were not wounded but they suffered shock.

SEE ALSO: Strasbourg gunman, previously jailed in Germany, said to have screamed 'Allahu Akbar'

The gunman opened fire at the famed Strasbourg Christmas market, which draws thousands of visitors every year.

Locations in which Chekatt was reportedly scene after the attack in Strasbourg, which is located directly on the German border. Photo: DPA

The attack left three dead and 13 injured, according to the latest toll given by the French authorities.

German police have tightened border checks over fears that the suspect may have crossed over from neighbouring France.

SEE ALSO: Strasbourg suspect: a violent criminal on terror watchlist

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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.

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