Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

POLICE

Suspected migrant bus crash kills seven in Bavaria

Seven people including a child were killed and several others injured early Friday after a minibus believed to be packed with migrants crashed trying to evade a German road check.

Published: 13 October 2023 09:15 CEST
Emergency services at the scene of the crash in Bavaria.
Emergency services at the scene of the crash in Bavaria. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Sven Hoppe

Police said a Mercedes Vito minibus with Austrian license plates and 23 people cramped inside tried to avoid the check some 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the border between Austria and Germany as it drove toward Munich.

The driver lost control of the vehicle, which flipped over several times before landing on its side.

Authorities said they believe a “people smuggler” was at the wheel and have opened a criminal investigation into the crash in the Bavaria region on suspicion of homicide.

“A six-year-old child was among the dead,” police spokesman Stefan Sonntag told AFP but could not comment on the victim’s sex or nationality.

“The driver and suspected people smuggler survived and is among those injured.”

Sonntag said the preliminary indications were that the passengers in the vehicle were Syrian and Turkish nationals, with the driver described as “stateless”.

Some of the 16 people injured were in a serious condition and being treated in local hospitals, with other children believed among the victims.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who has launched a drive against illegal immigration, said she was “shocked” by the deadly crash “involving suspected people smuggling”.

“This terrible event shows the cruel and inhumane way smugglers put people’s lives at risk,” she said in a statement.

“My deepest sympathy goes out to the victims. My thoughts go out especially to the children who were penned in the vehicle.”

‘Profit out of desperation’

According to police, the vehicle sped up to avoid a road check by federal police forces who had observed it was packed with people. The minivan then
took a motorway exit between the towns of Ampfing and Waldkraiburg and crashed at about 3:15am.

The crumpled minivan with its windshield shattered was lying overturned on a guardrail as emergency services workers tended to the injured.

Several emergency services, including rescue helicopters and the fire department were at the scene on Friday morning.

Part of the Autobahn A94 was closed off in the direction of Munich. 

According to the federal police and the Bavarian border police, the number of unauthorised entries has been increasing for several months, and the A94 is considered a typical smuggling route. Recently, a suspected smuggler fled from the police near Burghausen with four people in the car, sparking a crash. Two people were seriously injured.

“We have significantly stepped up federal police presence on the people-smuggling routes on our borders,” Faeser said.

“We must smash the cruel business of the people-smuggling gangs who make profit out of people’s desperation.”

A surge in arrivals in recent months, mainly from Syria and Afghanistan, has reignited a fierce immigration debate in Germany with local authorities saying they are overwhelmed by the number of asylum seekers.

The influx has fuelled support for the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which made major gains in two regional elections this month including in Bavaria.

Since early October, Germany has beefed up controls along its eastern border amid concerns that too many migrants were trying to enter the country.

READ ALSO: German police crack down on illegal crossings at Polish border

Germany recorded over 250,000 asylum requests in the year to September, more than for the whole of 2022.

The country is also hosting more than a million Ukrainian refugees.

Member comments

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

PROTESTS

FACT CHECK: Are foreign language protests really forbidden in Germany?

After a group of Irish protestors were told by Berlin police to stop singing songs in Gaelic while they held a pro-Palestine event, The Local looks at whether foreign language protests are really outlawed in Germany's capital.

Published: 24 April 2024 14:48 CEST
Updated: 27 April 2024 08:18 CEST
FACT CHECK: Are foreign language protests really forbidden in Germany?

Around 40 Irish activists and Berlin residents were attending a ‘conversation circle’ in solidarity with Palestine on Friday last week – in which songs and conversations were had in Irish (Gaelic) language – when police arrived and told them to stop and disperse, according to the Irish Independent.

Police on the scene explained that only German, English and sometimes Arabic language could be used in protest. They cited concerns that banned speech, such as speeches or chants glorifying violence, could be used in foreign languages and noted that they didn’t have an Irish translator.

An Instagram post by a group called Irish Bloc Berlin, which describes itself as a “Berlin-based platform for solidarity with Palestine”, called the move unjust and unconstitutional.

On the platform they also posted select speeches made at the demonstration with English subtitles: “Myself and my friends from Ireland are here today to show our solidarity with Palestine and stand against genocide…” began a comment by a protestor identified as Aodhán. He added: “We also stand against the brutal and shameful repression of the Palestine Solidarity movement by the police.”

Ireland is known to be home to a relatively high number of people who express sympathy for Palestine, partly because many Irish people see similarities between the British colonisation of Ireland and Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine.

The Irish protest came a week after German authorities shut down the co-called “Palestine Congress”, just an hour after it began. The event was planned to be a three day event in support of Palestine held in front of the Bundestag.

An Irish woman named Caoimhe McAllister, who attended the protest, told the Irish Independent the action was intended “to highlight what we see as a really worrying human rights concern”. 

McAllister added that she had witnessed police cracking down on Arabic speakers during protests, including at least one arrest. Her group wanted to show how unfair it is to outlaw a particular language for use of protest: “We just had to highlight this by speaking in Irish”.

Are language bans legal in Germany?

Asked for clarification on whether foreign language protests were allowed in Germany, a Berlin police spokesperson told The Local that they “decide on restrictions for assemblies on a case-by-case basis”.

The Irish protest took place within a protest camp which has been stationed in the sculpture park west of Heinrich-von-Gagern-Straße since April 8th. This particular camp is subject to the restriction that speeches can only be given in German and English and, at certain times, in Arabic, according to the Berlin Police.

The police spokesperson added: “In addition to this restriction, the assembly leader was informed on the occasion of the rally on April 19th that no exclamations or chants in Hebrew or Gaelic may take place. This decision is based on the Berlin Freedom of Assembly Act.”

In this case, the Berlin Police say that their own risk forecast suggested that “the assembly could lead to speeches or chants glorifying violence with potentially criminal content”, and therefore police officers on the scene needed the ability to hear what was being said so that they could enforce restrictions imposed on banned speech, like speech that incites violence, for example.

“For some languages, this is only possible with an interpreter. As there was no interpreter available for Hebrew and Gaelic in this case, it was only possible to act in advance with appropriate restrictions,” the police said.

Police powers are devolved in Germany, meaning that law enforcement is constitutionally vested solely with the states, so the way foreign language protests are treated may be different in other parts of the country.

Following the reconstruction, after WWII, Germany has gained a largely positive reputation for its commitment to protect freedom of speech and the right to protest. 

A key exception to this is banned speech, which in Germany includes: speech that incites hatred against people based on their racial, national, religious or ethnic background and insults that assault people based on those same factors.

But following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, and the steady rise of pro-Palestine activism in response to Israel’s war of retaliation that has killed more than 30,000 civilians, activists and civil rights organisations alike are beginning to question if Germany’s speech restrictions are being applied fairly.

PODCAST: Germany’s cannabis law explained and Berlinale backlash

Civil rights in decline in Germany?

In a recent report by global civil society alliance CIVICUS, the state of civic space in Germany was downgraded. 

CIVICUS Monitor researchers documented German authorities breaking up pro-Palestinian protests in late 2023 with excessive force — deploying pepper spray and water cannons and arresting hundreds.

The CIVICUS notes that German authorities have also used disproportionate measures against the Last Generation climate movement, including raids on homes, seizing bank accounts and blocking websites in response to non-violent civil disobedience.

“Germany used to be one of the most free countries in Europe…” said Tara Petrović, CIVICUS Monitor’s Europe and Central Asia researcher.

“Germany’s downgrade should be a wake-up call for the country and continent to change course.”

The CIVICUS report notes Berlin and Frankfurt specifically, as places where authorities banned pro-Palestinian protests.

“The German authorities’ actions against activists exercising legitimate rights to association and peaceful assembly are not conducive to a democratic state,” said Petrović. 

SHOW COMMENTS