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Hamburg airport hostage-taker gives himself up

An armed father who had taken his four-year-old daughter hostage gave himself up on Sunday without resistance after hours of negotiations at Hamburg airport, German police said.

Hamburg airport hostage-taker gives himself up
Officers of the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei) on October 11, 2023. Photo: JENS SCHLUETER/AFP.

The 35-year-old man had barricaded himself and the child in his car at the foot of a Turkish Airlines plane on Saturday evening, demanding to be allowed on board after a custody dispute with the mother.

He had rammed his car through the security area onto the apron where planes are parked, firing two shots in the air and throwing two burning bottles out of the vehicle, police said.

“The hostage-taking has ended,” local police posted on X, formerly Twitter, Sunday afternoon.

“The man has left his car with his daughter and been taken for questioning by security forces without resistance,” it said, adding the child “seems in good health”.

Police had brought psychologists and teams of negotiators as well as rapid response units to the airport in northern Germany. Authorities said a dispute over custody of the child was believed to be behind the incident, with the wife of the driver placing an emergency call alerting police to the abduction of her child.

Police had described lengthy negotiations which had taken place in Turkish and announced the father was believed to be “in possession of a loaded weapon and perhaps explosives”.

The man, a Turk according to the daily Bild newspaper, had at first demanded to be allowed to fly to Turkey with his daughter.

“That’s no longer the aim of negotiations,” a local police spokesperson had said. “We believe that the child is physically well,” police spokeswoman Sandra Levgruen told regional television channel NDR.

“That’s what we can see and what we gather from telephone conversations with the man responsible for what has happened. We can hear the child in the background.”

“I don’t want to talk about her mental state,” the spokeswoman added. “We are talking, talking and talking again,” with the father, and “trying to find a peaceful solution,” she had added.

On Sunday morning the airport management posted on X saying, “Air traffic remains suspended until further notice.”

On Saturday evening, 17 flights scheduled to land in Hamburg were diverted. Another 286 flights were scheduled for Sunday, carrying some 34,500 passengers.

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CRIME

German Die Linke politician attacked in Thuringia

A politician from Germany's socialist Die Linke party was insulted and attacked in a supermarket in Eisenberg, Thuringia on Friday.

German Die Linke politician attacked in Thuringia

At the supermarket checkout, a man insulted the party’s state election candidate Steffen Much without reason and grabbed him by his T-shirt, the party’s regional association said on Saturday.

Much was unharmed, according to party sources, and filed a police report against the attacker, who he knew.

“I am glad that Steffen Much was not physically harmed,” said the co-chairman of the Left Party’s regional association, Christian Schaft.

“Insults and attacks like these are intended to intimidate everyone who is committed to an open and democratic society.”

There have been several attacks on politicians across the country recently.

READ ALSO: German far-right AfD candidate attacked with knife in Mannheim

The Thuringia state elections take place on 1 September.

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