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CRIME

‘What? No Becks?’ Men set fire to shop

Two men set fire to a shop in western Germany because it did not stock the brand of beer they were looking for - Becks Gold.

Published: 31 January 2014 12:43 CET
'What? No Becks?' Men set fire to shop
A CCTV image of the men at the shop. Photo: Dortmund Police

Police said on Thursday that the two men walked into the kiosk in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, on Sunday at 5am demanding a bottle of Becks Gold.

When the shop worker told them that they did not stock the drink, the two men left.

But 20 minutes later they returned with a jerrycan and after speaking briefly with the shopkeeper one of the men suddenly poured fuel from the can over the entrance to the shop and lit it.

A fire broke out, causing a small amount of damage to the front of the store.

The two men, who police said were drunk, fled. One was described as 175cm tall, 28 to 33 years old with a big nose.

The other was around 30 years old and 190 cm tall. He was wearing a grey jacket and jogging bottoms. Both spoke in Polish. 

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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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