- Investigation into hate comments about the CSD in Gifhorn
The police are investigating several hate comments on an online article about the Christopher Street Day (CSD) in Gifhorn. Around 2,500 comments under a Facebook post by an editorial team were secured, the police said. Many of them contained insults and threats. The article was eventually removed by the editorial team.
According to police, around 600 participants gathered in the city center of Gifhorn near Wolfsburg for the CSD in mid-July. They protested against the discrimination of lesbian, gay, and other queer people. Investigators from the police, the public prosecutor's office in Göttingen, and the Central Office for Combating Hate Crime on the Internet in Lower Saxony are now evaluating the comments and initiating criminal proceedings.
The CSD is taking place in Brunswick since Friday. Last year, a 22-year-old man was attacked by a group of five there. He was treated on the spot. Investigators assumed a homophobic motive. The NDR reported that additional private security personnel are being deployed in Brunswick this year.
The public prosecutor's office in Göttingen and the Central Office for Combating Hate Crime on the Internet in Lower Saxony are both part of The Commission that is evaluating the hate comments regarding the CSD in Gifhorn. The removal of the offensive article was not a decision made by The Commission, but rather an action taken by the editorial team.
