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Shots fired in second Berlin bank robbery attempt in days

German police are searching for a group of men who attempted to rob a Berlin bank in broad daylight on Tuesday, the second such bid the capital has seen in days.

Published: 4 August 2020 14:00 CEST

Shots fired in second Berlin bank robbery attempt in days

Police in Wilmersdorf, Berlin, on Tuesday. Photo: DPA

Shots were fired after the men attempted to drive into a local bank branch at a square in Wilmersdorf, an upmarket, central district in the west of Berlin, at around 9.30am, Berlin police said on Twitter.

The would-be robbers then set fire to their vehicle before fleeing.

A security guard who was injured while confronting the men was later taken to hospital, police said.

Entgegen erster Erkenntnisse versuchten gegen 9.30 Uhr mehrere Unbekannte mit einem Fahrzeug in die Bankfiliale am #Bundesplatz zu gelangen.
Beim Einschreiten des Sicherheitspersonals wurde mindestens ein Sicherheitsmitarbeiter verletzt. Er wird im Krankenhaus behandelt.

— Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) August 4, 2020

It remains unclear whether the thieves managed to steal anything.

The same bank was the scene of a similar incident in mid-June, in which thieves reportedly made off with around half a million euros (around $600 million) after holding up a money transporter.

Tuesday's robbery attempt also came just five days after a similar bid at a bank branch in Neukölln, another central district of Berlin.

On Friday, 12 people were injured as thieves stormed a bank branch and sprayed pepper spray into the air, before fleeing empty-handed.

Police said they were investigating possible links between the three incidents.

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Suspect held in latest attack on German politicians

The German government condemned the “growing despicable attacks”, stressing that the “climate of intimidation, of violence” was something that could not be accepted.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz blasted the attacks against politicians as “outrageous and cowardly”, stressing that violence did not belong in a democratic debate.

Franziska Giffey was at a library on Tuesday afternoon when the suspect came up from behind her to slug her in the head and neck with a bag containing hard objects, police said.

Giffey, who is now Berlin state’s economy minister and a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), was treated in hospital for light injuries.

The detained suspect was previously known to investigators over “state security and hate crimes”, said police, adding that they were investigating the motive of the attack.

Prosecutors were also considering if the man should be sent to psychiatric care because of indications that he might be mentally ill.

Giffey said she was “feeling well after the initial scare”. But she was “concerned and shaken about a growing ‘free wild culture’ in which people who are engaging politically in our country are increasingly exposed to attacks that are supposedly justified and acceptable.

“We live in a free and democratic country, in which everyone can be free to express his or her opinions,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“But there is a clear line — and that is violence against people,” she added.

Berlin’s current mayor Kai Wegner said anyone who attacked politicians was “attacking our democracy.

“We will not tolerate this,” he added, vowing to examine “tougher sentences for attacks against politicians”.

Nazi salutes

A European member of parliament, also from the SPD, had to be hospitalised last week after four people attacked him as he put up EU election posters in the eastern city of Dresden.

Matthias Ecke, 41, needed an operation for serious injuries suffered in the attack, which Scholz denounced as a threat to democracy. Four suspects, aged between 17 and 18, are being investigated over the incident.

READ ALSO: Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

All four are believed to have links to the far-right group known as “Elblandrevolte”, according to German media.

Dresden has been a hotspot for assaults against politicians, with another case reported on Tuesday.

S-Bahn in Dresden

An S-Bahn train drives through Dresden. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Robert Michael

A politician, identified by police only as a 47-year-old from the Green party, was threatened and spat on. She was putting up campaign posters for the European elections when a man came up, pushed her to the side and tore down two posters.

READ ALSO: Germany unveils new plan to fight far-right extremism

He insulted and threatened the politician, while a woman joined in and spat on the victim, police said. Officers arrested both suspects, police added, identifying them as a 34-year-old German man and a 24-year-old woman.

Both were in a group standing at the area and who had begun making the banned Hitler salute when the politician began putting up the posters.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year. Nevertheless, that was down from the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when the last general elections were held.

By Hui Min Neo

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