Grevesmühlen - Schwesig on incident with girl: Do not trivialize
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Minister President Manuela Schwesig (SPD) warned on Tuesday against downplaying the incident in Grevesmühlen involving a family from Ghana. "It's good that the girl was physically unharmed," she stated. "Every mother and every father knows that the shock runs deep. There's no reason to trivialise the incident. There should be no place for attacks on children and racist insults in our country."
The police reported shortly after the incident on Friday evening that an eight-year-old girl and her ten-year-old sister from Ghana were attacked by a group of around 20 people. The eight-year-old was said to have been hit in the face, injuring the child. Later, the police reported that the girl was not injured.
A spokesperson for the Rostock Police Headquarters explained on Tuesday the conflicting reports with an emotionally charged situation on site. Initially, the officers assumed that the child had been injured and had called for an ambulance. Later, it became clear that the girl had not sustained any injuries.
According to the investigation, the girl was not hit in the face. Instead, a teenager had obstructed her way with his roller skates and touched her foot with his shoe. Subsequently, there was a verbal and, in some cases, physical altercation between the parents of the children and the youths. The father was reportedly slightly injured, and racist statements were made.
Initially, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Interior Minister Christian Pegel (SPD) spoke of a racist motive. The incident caused widespread outrage nationwide, with the initial assumption being that of a targeted, racist attack on the child.
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Minister President Manuela Schwesig, from the SPD party, expressed concern over the incident in Grevesmühlen involving a family from Ghana, emphasizing that no room should be given for attacks on children or racist insults in the country.
- The police reported a case on Friday evening in Grevesmühlen where an eight-year-old girl and her ten-year-old sister from Ghana were attacked by a group of around 20 people, initially stating that the younger girl was injured but later retracting that claim.
- According to the investigation's result, it was revealed that the girl was not hit in the face but rather obstructed by a teenager with his roller skates and had her foot touched by his shoe, which led to a verbal and physical altercation between the parents and youths, with racist statements reported.
- The Interior Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Christian Pegel, initially labeled the incident as having a racist motive, but subsequent findings might have invalidated this assumption.
- The incident in Grevesmühlen, initially perceived as a targeted, racist attack on the child, sparked outrage across Germany, which increased concerns about extremism and racial intolerance in the region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
