What else has to happen before this man is locked away?
On Saturday night, around 2.35 am, the Greifswald police got an 911 call to the street Wilhelm-Holtz-Straße. There an Egyptian (42 years old) was about to break the windows of a hotel with a pole.
When the policemen approached him, he pulled out a knife and stormed towards the police. “The police officers clearly asked him several times to remain at a distance,” reports police officer Jürgen Kolletzki. “When the man failed to do so, a warning shot was fired in the air to halt his attack.” Nevertheless, the aggressive asylum seeker continued to run towards the officers.
“Thereupon a shot was fired from the police weapon to make the man incompent to act,” said the police officer. The Egyptian was hit on his right thigh and was seriously injured when he was brought to the clinic. The officers were not injured during the operation, but are receiving psychological support.
The bitter realisation: The targeted knife attack on the police officers could have been prevented – if the judiciary had acted in time and consistently!
The Egyptian is in fact the same man – this was confirmed by the Command Centre of the Police Headquarters Neubrandenburg in response to an enquiry by the tabloid BILD – who had caused police action several times at the beginning of the month.
The North African is strongly suspected of having set fire to a Syrian’s car and shortly afterwards of having burnt down two arbours belonging to Syrians. They both burned out (€20 000 damage). In all cases, swastika flyers were found at the scene.
This in turn had immediately prompted Lord Mayor Stefan Fassbinder (54, Greens) to hastily denounce a xenophobic attack. The Green politician had expressed his concern that this was true for “our entire cosmopolitan and tolerant city”.
Shortly thereafter, the police arrested the Egyptian as the suspected perpetrator, who had already been accused of robbery and assault several times since 2018. The asylum seeker had been arrested near the crime scene in an allotment garden. The police had reported that the State Security Service had found evidence in his case which substantiated the suspicion.
However, because the Egyptian is said to show signs of emotional disorders, the public prosecutor’s office in Stralsund had requested a warrant for him to be placed in a mental hospital. However, the Greifswald Local Court rejected this application. Thus, the Egyptian, who was apparently dangerous to public safety, was released.
“The judge did not see any urgent suspicion,” says senior public prosecutor Martin Cloppenburg. “We have lodged an appeal.” This had not yet been decided.
By the way: Greifswald’s Lord Mayor has not recently spoken out on the case.
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