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POLICE

‘Increased polarization in society’: Berlin sees rise in homophobic incidents

Police in Berlin say there’s been a significant rise in the number of attacks against gay men, lesbians and transgender people in the city.

Published: 2 December 2019 16:37 CET
'Increased polarization in society': Berlin sees rise in homophobic incidents
File photo shows two men holding hands. Photo: DPA

In the first nine months of the year up until the end of September, a total of 261 insults, threats and attacks were recorded by police, reported the Berliner Morgenpost on Monday.

In the same period last year there were 184 incidents, according to Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik.

The crimes took place predominantly in the districts of Mitte, Schöneberg, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Neukölln. 

Slowik said there had been an “increasing polarization in society” and an “increase in hate crime” in many areas. At the same time, more victims are coming forward to report on homophobic incidents.

These factors have led to the significant increase, Slowick said after she presented the figures at an awards event organized by the Alliance against Homophobia.

However, the number could be the tip of the iceberg as many crimes go unreported.

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PROTESTS

Clashes mar rally against far right in north-west France

Riot police clashed with demonstrators in the north-western French city of Rennes on Thursday in the latest rally against the rise of the far-right ahead of a national election this month.

Published: 21 June 2024 08:58 CEST
Clashes mar rally against far right in north-west France

The rally ended after dozens of young demonstrators threw bottles and other projectiles at police, who responded with tear gas.

The regional prefecture said seven arrests were made among about 80 people who took positions in front of the march through the city centre.

The rally was called by unions opposed to Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party (RN), which is tipped to make major gains in France’s looming legislative elections. The first round of voting is on June 30.

“We express our absolute opposition to reactionary, racist and anti-Semitic ideas and to those who carry them. There is historically a blood division between them and us,” Fabrice Le Restif, regional head of the FO union, one of the organisers of the rally, told AFP.

Political tensions have been heightened by the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a Paris suburb, for which two 13-year-old boys have been charged. The RN has been among political parties to condemn the assault.

Several hundred people protested against anti-Semitism and ‘rape culture’ in Paris in the latest reaction.

Dominique Sopo, president of anti-racist group SOS Racisme, said it was “an anti-Semitic crime that chills our blood”.

Hundreds had already protested on Wednesday in Paris and Lyon amid widespread outrage over the assault.

The girl told police three boys aged between 12 and 13 approached her in a park near her home in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie on Saturday, police sources said.

She was dragged into a shed where the suspects beat and raped her, “while uttering death threats and anti-Semitic remarks”, one police source told AFP.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country outside Israel and the United States.

At Thursday’s protest, Arie Alimi, a lawyer known for tackling police brutality and vice-president of the French Human Rights League, said voters had to prevent the far-right from seizing power and “installing a racist, anti-Semitic and sexist policy”.

But he also said he was sad to hear, “anti-Semitic remarks from a part of those who say they are on the left”.

President Emmanuel Macron called the elections after the far-right thrashed his centrist alliance in European Union polls. The far-right and left-wing groups have accused each other of being anti-Semitic.

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