Mayor: heated atmosphere in Bad Oeynhausen
After an assault in the spa park of Bad Oeynhausen, a 20-year-old man passes away. A young Syrian is in pre-trial detention. The incident has stirred up the citizens of the city, says the mayor. However, criminality among migrants is also being instrumentalized.
The mayor of Bad Oeynhausen, Lars Bökenkroger, described the mood after the fatal attack on a 20-year-old in his city as "aggressive and heated" in an interview with WDR. The CDU politician spoke of great emotionality regarding the topic. "And that's understandable. But limits are being crossed. It's immediately politically instrumentalized."
An 18-year-old Syrian is suspected of having attacked the 20-year-old so severely in the city's spa park that the victim died in the hospital the previous week. The alleged perpetrator is in custody for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm. Since then, the debate about criminal migrants has been rekindled. "We have to talk openly about it," said Bökenkroger. "Of course, there's the question of whether there's a connection between migration and crime. There have been a lot of cases lately, and that's the tip of the iceberg. So there shouldn't be a ban on deporting such young people."
"The perpetrator must be punished harshly," said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to the "Bild" newspaper. "It's clear that young offenders and violent criminals need early intervention: Before they become even more violent, they need clear stop signals through swift criminal proceedings and visible penalties. We are also working intensively to make deportations of criminals to Afghanistan and Syria possible again." Her sympathy goes to the family of the young man who was killed in Bad Oeynhausen due to the violence, said the SPD politician.
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann told "Bild": "This new case of brutal violence makes clear: Unrestricted and uncontrolled refugee influx overwhelms us not only but also poses a serious security risk." Clear decisions are needed in the areas of youth and knife crime, as well as the possibility of deporting criminals to Afghanistan and Syria.
According to the prosecutor's office, the suspect came to Bad Oeynhausen in October. He came to Germany in 2016 as part of a family reunification with parents and siblings and initially lived in Pforzheim before moving to Bad Oeynhausen. The suspect had previously come to the attention of investigators due to violent, property, and drug-related offenses but had not been convicted. The 18-year-old remained silent about the accusations.
The incident in Bad Oeynhausen, involving the death of a 20-year-old due to severe assault, has sparked discussions about criminality among migrants in North Rhine-Westphalia, a topic that has international implications due to the involvement of refugees. The suspect, an 18-year-old Syrian, is currently in pre-trial detention, facing charges of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm.
