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CRIME

Fight over order of chips at Berlin fast-food joint leaves two in hospital

Two men were taken to hospital in Berlin on Sunday after a fight broke out over whether a young woman wanted to order a portion of chips or not.

Published: 17 July 2017 11:42 CEST
Fight over order of chips at Berlin fast-food joint leaves two in hospital
Photo: DPA

At a fast-food joint in the Reinickendorf neighbourhood in northern Berlin, three men were seated at a table enjoying a fatty treat at around 1.30am on Sunday morning, when a group of around six men and five women turned up, police report.

The group began to discuss what they wanted to order, with one woman reportedly repeatedly announcing her desire to have some chips.

One of the men sitting at the table pointed out to the indecisive group that the woman seemed keen to have a portion of chips.

But the advice wasn’t taken with good humour. One member of the group approached the three men and told them it was none of their business. He then picked up one of their beer glasses and proceeded to pour the contents over each of their heads.

From there, the situation quickly escalated.

In the resultant brawl between the two groups, the three men had a bottle and a bench thrown at them. One of them was thrown to the floor, where he was kicked and beaten by several members of the larger group, he told police. One of his friends also had his glasses damaged in the assault.

The larger group fled the scene before the police arrived. Ambulance crews took two of the other men to hospital for further treatment of their injuries.

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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