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CRIME

Explosive device found in Russian media agency in Berlin

An explosive device has been found in a Berlin building housing the office of a Russian news agency, German media reported Saturday.

Published: 7 May 2022 19:09 CEST
A German police car in Berlin
A German police car in Berlin. Photo: John MACDOUGALL / AFP

German police said the device was discovered Friday afternoon in the basement  of a building “housing the office of a Russian press agency,” Ria Novosti, in the city’s Steglitz district.

Police had been called to the building after an empty beer bottle was earlier hurled against its facade.

They destroyed the explosive device and said that “the real danger and the possible motivation for the crime are the subject of a thorough ongoing investigation.”

Ria Novosti had earlier said on Telegram that the placing of the device constituted “a possible terrorist attack against Russian journalists and their families” in Berlin.

The incident came as Russia prepares to hold traditional Victory Day festivities to mark the World War II Soviet victory over Nazi Germany and amid tensions sparked by its February invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

In the run-up to Monday’s celebrations, German intelligence services have said that they are expecting potential pro-Russian activities on German soil, notably in Berlin.

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ANTI-SEMITISM

Germany sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts

Anti-Semitic acts rose sharply in Germany last year, especially after war broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October, according to new figures released on Tuesday.

Published: 25 June 2024 17:03 CEST
Germany sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts

The Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (RIAS) documented 4,782 anti-Semitic “incidents” in 2023 – an increase of more than 80 per cent on the previous year.

More than half of the incidents – which included threats, physical attacks and vandalism – were registered after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7th attack on Israel, RIAS said.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency last week also published figures showing a new record in anti-Semitic crimes in 2023.

A total of 5,164 crimes were recorded during the year, the agency said, compared with 2,641 in 2022.

Anti-Semitic crimes with a “religious-ideological motivation” jumped to 492 from just 33 the previous year, with the vast majority committed after October 7.

Felix Klein, the government’s commissioner for the fight against anti-Semitism, said the RIAS figures were “absolutely catastrophic”.

The Hamas attack had acted as an “accelerant” for anti-Semitism in Germany, he told a press conference in Berlin.

“Jewish life in Germany is under greater threat than it has ever been since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded,” he said.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,600 people, also mostly civilians, Gaza’s health ministry said.

Islamophobic incidents also increased dramatically in Germany last year, according to a separate report published on Monday.

The CLAIM alliance against Islamophobia said it had registered 1,926 attacks on Muslims in 2023, compared with just under 900 in 2023.

These included verbal abuse, discrimination, physical violence and damage to property.

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