Police - Searches in Hamburg due to hate crime on the internet
Hamburg police searched six homes on Thursday because of hate comments on the internet. The measures were in connection with a Europe-wide day of action ("Joint Action Day") against hate crime, a police spokeswoman said on Friday. The searches took place in the districts of Winterhude, Lurup, Alsterdorf, Eißendorf and Wilhelmsburg under the direction of state security.
A 55-year-old man is suspected of having published hateful content on social media. Two men, aged 58 and 59, are said to have published online comments that could constitute insults, defamation or slander or a call to kill high-ranking female politicians. A 51-year-old German is being investigated by the state security service and the public prosecutor's office on suspicion of rewarding and approving criminal acts. Two women, aged 34 and 39, are suspected of incitement to hatred because of statements against refugees and Palestinians. All six suspects are German.
Evidence and storage media were seized during the searches, it was reported. The 58-year-old was legally in possession of a firearm. However, the officers had seized it because he had not stored it properly.
There were no references to the Hamas terror attack on Israel during the searches, the spokeswoman explained. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic slogans were also increasingly uttered in Hamburg after the attack on October 7. The police had initiated a large number of investigations into various slogans - including at demonstrations, the spokesperson added.
Two participants were attacked after a solidarity demonstration for Israel in Hamburg city center on October 9. A young woman had been investigated by the state security service for expressing sympathy for the terrorist attack in an NDR street poll.
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- The hate comments on the Internet led to extensive searches by the police in various districts of Hamburg, including Wilhelmsburg, Alsterdorf, and Winterhude.
- The police action was part of a Europe-wide day of action against hate crime, with several homes being searched due to suspected hate speech and criminality.
- The investigations involved six German individuals, with two men accused of publishing hateful content against high-ranking female politicians, and two women suspected of incitement to hatred due to statements against refugees and Palestinians.
- During the searches, evidence and storage media were seized, including a firearm legally possessed by one of the suspects but seized due to improper storage.
- The searches were not linked to any anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic slogans related to the Hamas terror attack in October, but the police have initiated numerous investigations into such slogans following the attack.
- The hate crime issue has also been highlighted in other parts of Germany, with a young woman investigated for expressing sympathy for the terrorist attack during an NDR street poll.
- Hamburg politicians and the local community are now calling for increased efforts to combat the rising trend of hate crime and extremism on the Internet, urging the police and authorities to implement stricter measures to protect their citizens.
Source: www.stern.de
