After the New Year’s Eve riots, heated debates are still being held about integration and problem districts. This is also the case in Bonn. Around 40 young men allegedly attacked police officers and firefighters in the Medinghoven district on New Year’s Eve – with firecrackers, pyrotechnics and Molotov cocktails.
The residential district, which was tranquil in th Rebublic of Bonn, is now considered a problem district – like Berlin-Neukölln, for example. Almost every fifth person here is unemployed. Around 55 per cent live on social welfare, and almost 38 per cent are under 25 years old.
The rioters who attacked the rescue services with firecrackers and stones on New Year’s Eve are said to have been recruited from precisely this social environment. The Bonn public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating eight men aged 16 to 19 for aggravated breach of the peace, assault on police officers, attempted assault, arson and damage to property.
According to this, a boy calling himself “Le Monde vous Appartient” (“The World Belongs to You”) founded a chat group called “New Year’s Eve MV vs. Nazis” two days before New Year’s Eve. In fact, videos showing the riots on New Year’s Eve can be found on Instagram and TikTok under the hashtag “MV”. MV” stands for “Medinghover Viertel”. The opposing “Nazis” probably meant police officers.
“Le Monde vous Appartient” invites another eight young men to join the group. These also come from Medinghoven or neighbouring districts like Duisdorf. The intention seems clear: “New Year’s Eve will burn MV,” he writes. He quickly makes it clear that if someone wants to be “only half in”, they should leave the group.
The group did not only discuss the construction of Molotov cocktails. One member allegedly asked “how many cop cars” should be set on fire. Another also had the idea of kidnapping a police officer: “Guys. Should we kidnap a cop?” Someone replies, “By Allah I mean seriously. Like Athena” – the film.
The group had also already targeted one particular policeman: the “son of a bitch”. The youths knew where he always parks his car. The Bonn police suspect that this is an officer who is often on duty in Medinghoven. However, the further plan was no longer arranged in the chat. The last conversation ended one day before New Year’s Eve.
Finally, on New Year’s Eve, the riots announced in the chat actually took place. The Bonn police later reported that unknown persons had deliberately fired pyrotechnics at the officers. Some of the suspects had covered themselves with masks and scarves. Beforehand, bins and car tyres had been set on fire. When the fire brigade tried to put out the fires, they were attacked with stones and firecrackers. So were the police officers who tried to protect the firefighters. Medinghoven was indeed on fire.
When the rioting escalated, police and fire brigade initially withdrew. After a platoon of the 13th hundred riot police was alerted, the suspects were surrounded. One member of the chat group was caught at the scene; all the others managed to escape.
Already a few days after the attacks on the police, the flats of the suspects in Medinghoven and Duisdorf were searched. The mobile phones were seized. In addition to firecrackers, an alarm pistol and a gas cartridge were found. The decisive clue to the group, however, was given by a 19-year-old Romanian who had been arrested on New Year’s morning. According to the magazine “Focus”, the investigators found information about the chat group on his mobile phone.
According to the Bonn police, the suspects all have a migration background. According to the Bonn police, there were “five German nationals with a migration background and one other nationality each in the chat group. Three others are foreigners. All eight were born in Bonn.” Which supports Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s statement that the state has a “problem with certain young men with a migration background” who “despise” this very state.
All of the eight suspects were already known to the police. One of them had a record of numerous insults and a drug offence. Others had criminal records for theft, misuse of emergency calls and threats.