Reul: Around 400 crimes in NRW after Middle East escalation
According to the Düsseldorf Ministry of the Interior, around 400 crimes relating to the Gaza war have been recorded in North Rhine-Westphalia since the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. "These mainly involve damage to property, incitement to hatred and violations of flags and foreign national insignia", according to a report by NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) for the state parliament's interior committee on Thursday.
"The terrorist attacks against the state of Israel and the subsequent escalation of the situation in the Middle East have also had an impact on the security situation in North Rhine-Westphalia," Reul stated. "There is a high abstract danger associated with this, especially for Jewish institutions."
At the same time, a large number of threatening emails against public institutions and media outlets had become known throughout Germany and the state in this context, Reul stated in a further submission to the Committee on Internal Affairs on the subject of "Bomb threats against schools". "The authorship of the bomb threats is currently still unclear." So far, no concrete damage has been caused as a result of such threats.
"Even if a serious background to the threat emails has not been established so far, in the event of future threat emails, an incident-related incident check and risk assessment will of course be carried out," the minister stated. "The security authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia have no knowledge of any coordinated action on the part of the perpetrators."
Since 7 October, there have been both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian events "with an increased potential for emotionalization and mobilization". In a submission to the committee on the subject of demonstrations in the context of the Middle East conflict, it specifically states that by 7 November, the police had counted 82 pro-Israeli and 92 pro-Palestinian gatherings "at a large number of locations throughout North Rhine-Westphalia" with numbers of participants ranging from around 20 to around 17,000.
The escalation of conflicts in the Middle East, following terrorist attacks against Israel, led to numerous demonstrations in North Rhine-Westphalia. These demonstrations, both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian, have been a point of concern due to their potential for violence and conflicts. As a result, Parliament has been closely monitoring the situation and discussing appropriate measures to ensure safety and peace.
Source: www.dpa.com
