Dramatic scenes happened yesterday, Thursday, in Krefeld (North Rhine-Westphalia). A rampaging Iraqi set fire to the neighbourhood and almost caused a catastrophe. After he had already started several fires, he was shot and stopped by the police in the entrance area of a cinema, causing a large-scale police operation and extensive cordons in Krefeld yesterday evening shortly before 8 p.m., when a man identified as a 38-year-old Iraqi citizen was arrested.
According to initial reports, he threw an incendiary device into the building after smashing the windows of the Federal Employment Agency. The suspect then allegedly set fire to a van parked in front of the building and then took off in the direction of the main railway station. According to the police, a fire had previously broken out in the roof truss of an apartment block near the two crime scenes. The police suspect that this fire was also caused by the firebug.
Visitors to the Cinemaxx cinema near the main railway station have narrowly escaped a catastrophe. According to information from the German broadcaster WDR, the man is said to have tried to break into the cinema armed with a Molotov cocktail and another weapon. Thanks to the rapid intervention of the police, the suspect was caught in the foyer and stopped with shots. The injured Iraqi was taken to hospital.
Modelled on the Essen arson attack?
The crime is reminiscent of the Syrian who set several fires and devastated two shops in Essen (also in North Rhine-Westphalia) on September 28 . Thirty people were injured, including eight children. He had also set fires in apartment blocks. He then stormed into a greengrocer’s shop armed with a machete and a combat knife. He was finally confronted in a backyard and arrested by the police.
Iraker legte Brände und wollte Kino stürmen – von Polizei gestoppt – Unzensuriert