The accusation caused a sensation. Right-wing extremists allegedly attacked and seriously injured a 19-year-old Iranian in Bielefeld. The alleged victim told the police that the perpetrators had carved a swastika into his skin and inflicted further injuries. Now the case takes a surprising turn: The Iranian man invented the robbery.Nevertheless, the left-wing extremists went ahead with their announced demonstration this Saturday.
According to the police, the Iranian living in Bielefeld admitted on Friday evening that the injuries – including a cut in the form of a swastika on his skin – were self-inflicted.
Late on Friday evening, the 19-year-old, accompanied by his family and an acquaintance, appeared at the North Police Station and wanted to make a statement, police spokeswoman Sonja Rehmert reported. In an interrogation, the Bielefeld police officer admitted that the right-wing extremist attack had not taken place and that he had injured himself with a knife in the area of Niemöllershof/Wiener Street in the south of Bielefeld. A passer-by then found him injured there and called the emergency services.
According to the police, the young man wanted to attract attention by making the facts public. Criminal proceedings were initiated against the 19-year-old for feigning a crime.
According to the police, the Iranian is said to have reported a similar crime as early as January. This, too, was apparently made up. “The investigations at that time had not led to the clarification and identification of suspects”, said the police spokeswoman.
The young man had made the fictitious right-wing extremist assault public in social media, claiming to have been coerced by the police immediately after the crime. According to this, police officers were quick to recognise the truth and told the alleged victim that he had inflicted the injuries on himself.
This was subsequently confirmed by a medical examiner who examined the Iranian. In the opinion of the expert, the wounds do not match the statements made by the man from Bielefeld.Immediately after the publication of the 19-year-old’s fake news, the left-wingers have sided with the alleged victim of right-wing extremist violence and made accusations against the police without waiting for further investigation results on the truth.After it became known this Saturday that the Iranian had invented the attack, the organisers of the demonstration were initially at a loss. In the end, the decision was made to meet at the main railway station after all, but to abandon the planned move through the city centre.Some 200 people came to the station on Saturday afternoon to demonstrate against racism. In chants they shouted “there is no right for Nazi propaganda” and “shoulder to shoulder against fascism”.