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CRIME

Man killed by freight train in Schleswig-Holstein

A 35-year-old man was killed around 2 am Saturday morning when a freight train locomotive smashed into his car at a gated railroad crossing near Kiel.

Published: 25 April 2009 10:48 CEST
Man killed by freight train in Schleswig-Holstein
Photo: DPA

The man’s car was crushed and ripped into multiple pieces. Police had to use welding equipment to remove his remains from the wreck. No additional information has been released about the man’s identity.

The freight train was unable to come to a complete halt until 400 metres after the point of collision. The train apparently did not derail due to the accident. The stretch of track between Flensburg and Hamburg was closed while authorities investigated the the accident and removed debris from the scene. Police do not yet know how or why the car collided with the train.

On April 17, a regional passenger train slammed into a parked freight train outside of Berlin, injuring 24 passengers and crew aboard.

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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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