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CRIME

Police and firefighters injured in explosion in North Rhine-Westphalia

A 57-year-old man on Thursday sparked an explosion at a block of flats in western Germany, wounding 12 police officers and firefighters who had been responding to a call of distress, authorities said.

Published: 11 May 2023 16:41 CEST
Updated: 11 May 2023 19:31 CEST
Ratigen
Police officers with gas masks outside of the building in Ratigen. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Rolf Vennenbernd

The blast happened inside an apartment in the high-rise building in Ratingen, in North Rhine-Westphalia state, police said on Twitter.

Ten firefighters and two police officers were injured, some of them seriously, Herbert Reul, North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, told reporters.

Emergency services had arrived after receiving a distress call.

The door of the flat was open when police got to the site but the blast then ensued.

“The man, after he caused this explosion, closed the door again, retreated and started to set the place on fire,” said Reul.

A lifeless body was also found in the flat, Reul said, adding that it may be that of the suspect’s mother.

Police on Twitter referred to a “major operation” at the site.

The flat had apparently been doused with petrol or another flammable substance, Bild daily said.

The arrested man was a suspected Covid denier, according to Der Spiegel magazine.

Reul said it was “incomprehensible” to him that police officers and firefighters went on a mission to help and “ended up risking their lives”.

READ ALSO: Three injured in blast at Lidl’s German headquarters

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POLITICS

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

German officials said on Thursday they had raided properties as part of a bribery probe into an MP, who media say is a far-right AfD lawmaker accused of spreading Russian propaganda.

Published: 16 May 2024 17:19 CEST
Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

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