Arson attacks on motor vehicles in Berlin

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Since 2007 there has been an ongoing series of arson attacks on motor vehicles in Berlin . Since 2008, more than a hundred attacks have been carried out every year (as of?). Since most of the crimes were initially classified as politically motivated , the investigation into the perpetrators was carried out by the state security service .

After a decline in 2010, the number of attacks increased significantly for 2011. A series with numerous attacks in August 2011 attracted widespread media interest. In 2012, the number of arson attacks fell significantly, which the police attributed on the one hand to the fact that one main perpetrator, who was solely responsible for 106 arson attacks in 2011, had been caught, and on the other hand, the number of politically motivated acts from 92 to 24 Cases had decreased. In 2014 there was again an increase in the number of politically motivated attacks, in 2015 a decrease.

In 2016 the dispute over the formerly occupied house at Rigaer Strasse 94 escalated , which was also reflected in the fact that the number of car arson foundations classified as politically left-wing increased and in July reached the number of 63 attacks with 107 damaged vehicles (with a total of 234 acts in the period). In the same year, series of arson attacks with right-wing political motivation began, with a focus on the districts of Rudow, Neukölln and Oberschönweide, which increased in 2017, lasted until at least 2019 and comprised more than 70 cases.

statistics

When recording arson attacks, different counting methods are sometimes used, such as the number of arson attacks, the number of vehicles set on fire (several vehicles can be set on fire in one attack) or the number of vehicles damaged (due to heat and flames in the vicinity of burning vehicles) ). Furthermore, a distinction is made between politically motivated and non-politically motivated attacks.

different ways of counting fire attacks on vehicles

Due to these different counting methods, statistics can contain different information.

The following table names the number of arson attacks according to the official crime statistics of the Police President in Berlin ( Berlin State Police).

year Number of attacks politically motivated
2017 262 27
2016 313 72
2015 179 38
2014 242 53
2013 249 23
2012 243 24
2011 403 92
2010 221 44
2009 320 145
2008 215 73
2007 no information at least 75

In their crime statistics for 2010, the Berlin police reported a significant decrease in politically motivated arson attacks on vehicles.

“After 145 cases with 221 attacked vehicles in the previous year, in 2010 there were only 44 cases with 54 attacked vehicles. The police measures to prevent politically motivated violent crime could have had an effect here and led to uncertainty among the “left scene”. In addition, there were fewer reasons to initiate action in 2010 than in the previous year, and in addition to public reporting, a critical discussion was also initiated within the “left scene”. This called for a rethinking of some aspects of vehicle arson, in particular how it can be communicated to the public. In contrast, there was a slight increase in arson attacks on vehicles for which no political motive was based, from 175 cases with 180 attacked vehicles in the previous year to 177 cases with 196 attacked vehicles in the reporting year. "

- Police crime statistics Berlin 2010

A spokesman for the Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) estimated the number of Berlin cases to be comparatively low in 2011 in view of around 15,000 car fires nationwide . A spokesman for HUK-Coburg did not see any reason for an increase in insurance premiums .

background

Burnt out Porsche Cayenne in Berlin, 2009

Many fires from earlier years were assigned to the autonomous scene. As early as 1998, the Berlin magazine Radikal published instructions for building incendiary devices for cars. Until it was disbanded in July 2009, the militant group (mg) carried out targeted attacks on vehicles, mainly by authorities and military facilities. In 2007 and 2008, the crime scenes were mainly limited to the districts of Kreuzberg , Mitte , Friedrichshain and Lichtenberg . In the years 2009 to 2013, more than half of arson attacks in which the police assumed political motivation were directed against company cars (42 percent) - in particular against Deutsche Bahn (5 percent), police vehicles (15 percent) and vehicles from other state-owned vehicles Authorities (3 percent). In the remaining 40 percent of the cases, private individuals were affected.

The series of arson attacks that began in 2007 found understanding among the political left. The arson attacks were justified by the perpetrators as a necessary means against gentrification . In the left-wing scene newspaper Interim , some left-wing groups admitted to attacks, but in the majority of the attacks with suspected political motivation, no "letters of self-accusation - especially typical for the left-wing extremist scene - were published" and no suspects were identified. According to the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution, “[for a not inconsiderable proportion”) of the supposedly politically motivated arson attacks in the years 2009 to 2013 “also other, non-political motives”.

Reactions to the series of attacks in August 2011

CDU poster on the subject

The series of arson attacks in August 2011 was the subject of the election campaign for the Berlin House of Representatives on September 18, 2011. Both the CDU and FDP had presented their own posters.

Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly condemned the arson attacks and said she was watching the development with concern. The Berlin Green Party politician Hans-Christian Ströbele described the attacks as a “prestige fight between those who do it and the police” and as a “ test of courage with dire consequences”. It is also a "serious crime " that must also be prosecuted, as car owners are harmed and residents are put at risk. Dieter Wiefelspütz (SPD), member of the Interior Committee of the German Bundestag , assessed the arson attacks as a “precursor to terrorism”, but warned comparing the events with the unrest in London that they were vandalism : “There is no factual or vandalism for this type of violence political justification. ”In addition, it is“ easy to light a car and disappear in a flash without leaving any traces. ”The President of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) Jörg Ziercke estimates that only 20 to 30 percent of the perpetrators belong to the left-wing extremist spectrum. The rest are "chaos, notorious rioters, pyromaniacs , other free riders and occasionally insurance fraudsters ." He also contradicted the statements of several internal politicians from the CDU and SPD as well as the claim "to speak of a precursor to terrorism".

The Berlin police and the Berlin Senator for the Interior Ehrhart Körting (SPD) said there was no evidence of perpetrators from the left-wing extremist scene in the attacks and that there was no connection with terrorism . According to the police, the traces indicated copycat criminals with “pseudo-political motivation”. "The left-wing extremist scene is not behind the acts and does not agree with them," said Police Vice President Margarete Koppers , acting police chief in Berlin . The parliamentary group and regional leader of the CDU Berlin Frank Henkel contradicted Körting's view. The Senate must finally admit that it has "saved up the Berlin police and is no longer able to adequately protect the citizens from the threat," explained Henkel. In an article for The World Henkel criticized: "Instead of clearly addressing the extreme left-wing threat, the SPD-Left Party Senate moves to explanations behind that mask the reality." The party researcher Oskar Niedermayer said that the election campaign of the CDU could gain momentum as she would be assigned a high level of competence in the area of ​​internal security.

The governing mayor Klaus Wowereit replied: "Anyone who promises quick solutions now just wants to campaign cheaply" and called on the population to help. A reward of up to 5,000 euros was offered for pertinent information that led to the perpetrators being arrested. In the course of the fight against car arsonists, the police union (GdP) called on the population to help in the search for the perpetrators and to deploy the federal police and officials from other federal states in Berlin. The officials would have to support the Berlin colleagues for at least six months, said a GdP spokesman. He pointed out the understaffing of the police in Berlin, as the Berlin Senate had saved around 4,000 police jobs in the past ten years.

Investigations, arrests and suspects

After two vehicles went up in flames on Proskauer Strasse, a suspect was arrested in November 2009, who was apprehended on his hands near the crime scene with a bottle of lighter fluid and traces of an accelerator . 140 riot police then searched two occupied houses at Liebigstrasse 14 and 34. The suspect was released after 43 days of pre-trial detention. On the night of September 23 to 24, 2011, the man was picked up again in Berlin-Mitte when he was tampering with a car that went up in flames a little later. This time, too, he had primer with him. As a self-described freelance photographer and journalist, the suspect took several photos of burning vehicles in the past and offered these newspapers for publication.

Another suspect was arrested in October 2011. He was charged with 67 arson attacks (102 burned-out vehicles) between June and August 2011. A political background was ruled out by the investigators for these acts. The confessing perpetrator cited frustration at his unemployment as a motive. After taking up employment, the man stopped his arson at the end of August 2011. At the beginning of April 2012 he was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Berlin Regional Court . The police now hold him responsible for 106 arson attacks on vehicles.

Domestic political controversies arose in 2012 after it became known that after an attempted arson attack on Rigaer Strasse in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, all traffic data from 13 surrounding cell phone cells was queried in a radio cell . The procedure was then discussed in the Interior Committee of the Berlin House of Representatives . Police Vice President Margarete Koppers explained that the State Police Department of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office had recorded a total of 4.2 million traffic data and 960 participant data in the past few years as part of the investigations into car arson and had only deleted a small part of the data. Some of the data are also said to have been passed on to the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Prosecutor's Office without informing the persons concerned.

Web links

Commons : Arson attacks on motor vehicles in Berlin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Suspected car arsonists arrested. (No longer available online.) Rbb , August 30, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 31, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.rbb-online.de  
  2. ↑ a b c d Berlin Police Criminal Statistics 2012. (PDF; 2.9 MB) page 91. The Police President in Berlin , archived from the original on May 12, 2013 ; Retrieved November 20, 2013 .
  3. ↑ 17 lighted cars in Berlin. Left-wing extremists admit to attacking the public order office. In: Tagesspiegel. July 9, 2016, accessed August 7, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Sebastian Leber: New wave of right-wing violence: The Nazis from Neukölln magazine. In: tagesspiegel.de . March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Bodo Straub: Oberschöneweide: fire series is cleared up. In: tagesspiegel.de . June 12, 2016, accessed March 13, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Crime in Berlin: More than 150 cars set on fire since the beginning of the year. In: tagesspiegel.de . Retrieved July 27, 2017 .
  7. ↑ bdk / dpa: "Don't worry, I'm an AfD voter myself". In: n-tv.de. August 6, 2020, accessed August 13, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Criminal statistics of the Berlin police
  9. ↑ a b c d Police crime statistics Berlin 2017. The Police President in Berlin, 2018, accessed on September 25, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b Police Criminal Statistics Berlin 2015. (PDF; 2.1 MB) page 78. The Police President in Berlin , accessed on July 28, 2016 .
  11. ↑ a b Police crime statistics Berlin 2014. (PDF; 2.1 MB) page 77 below. The police chief in Berlin , accessed on August 21, 2015 .
  12. ↑ a b Police crime statistics Berlin 2013. (PDF; 0.6 MB) page 24 below. The police chief in Berlin , archived from the original on March 11, 2014 ; accessed on March 10, 2014 .
  13. ↑ a b Berlin Police Criminal Statistics 2011. (PDF; 2.3 MB) Pages 14/15. The police chief in Berlin , archived from the original on July 10, 2012 ; Retrieved August 21, 2012 .
  14. ↑ a b c Berlin Police Criminal Statistics 2010. (PDF; 1.8 MB) page 100. The Police President in Berlin , archived from the original on October 5, 2011 ; Retrieved August 19, 2011 .
  15. ↑ a b Berlin Police Criminal Statistics 2009. (PDF; 1.7 MB) page 18. The Police President in Berlin , accessed on August 19, 2011 .
  16. ↑ Police crime statistics Berlin 2008. (PDF; 1.4 MB) page 95. The Police President in Berlin , archived from the original on November 17, 2011 ; Retrieved August 29, 2011 .
  17. ↑ Report on the politically motivated crime in Berlin 2008. (PDF; 296 kB) page 30. The police chief in Berlin , archived from the original on August 15, 2011 ; Retrieved August 29, 2011 .
  18. ↑ Berlin Police Criminal Statistics 2008. (PDF; 3.56 MB) page 95. The Police President in Berlin , archived from the original on June 10, 2012 ; Retrieved August 29, 2011 .
  19. ^ Situation report of politically motivated crime in Berlin for the year 2007. (PDF; 313 kB) page 19. The police chief in Berlin , archived from the original on June 10, 2012 ; Retrieved August 29, 2011 .
  20. ↑ Citizens should put arsonists . Frankfurter Rundschau, August 17, 2011.
  21. ↑ Episode 158, p. 55
  22. ↑ Series of attacks in Berlin: car arsonists expand their territory. Berliner Morgenpost , August 13, 2011, accessed on August 18, 2011 .
  23. ↑ a b Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution: Left violence in Berlin. 2009 to 2013. Series In Focus, 1st edition, October 2015, p. 56
  24. ↑ During a discussion in the taz café, the scene on the left openly shows understanding for arson attacks on cars
  25. ↑ Arson attacks in Berlin - looking for traces in the left-wing capital scene ( Memento from May 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  26. ↑ Arson attacks fuel the Berlin election campaign. Spiegel Online , August 19, 2011, accessed August 19, 2011 .
  27. ↑ a b c d Night arson attacks in Berlin: Burning cars worry politics. Tagesschau , August 18, 2011, accessed on August 19, 2011 .
  28. ↑ Ströbele: Car arsonists should be punished. Reuters , August 19, 2011, accessed August 19, 2011 .
  29. ↑ Wiefelspütz: Berlin is not London  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , mdr of August 18, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mdr.de  
  30. ↑ BKA boss does not consider auto detonators to be terrorists , Spiegel Online from September 2, 2011
  31. ↑ CDU: «Militante Linke» responsible for car fires  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.berlinonline.de  
  32. ↑ Left intolerance
  33. ↑ Car detonators spoil the election campaign Spiegel Online from August 17, 2011
  34. ↑ Federal Police helps Autozündler Hunt Spiegel Online on August 23, 2011
  35. ↑ Press release: vehicles ignited - reward of up to € 5000. The police chief in Berlin , August 19, 2011, archived from the original on October 17, 2011 ; Retrieved August 19, 2011 .
  36. ↑ Burning cars in Berlin: Police demand more support. Hamburger Abendblatt , August 18, 2011, accessed on August 19, 2011 .
  37. ↑ Arrest warrant against alleged car arsonist . In: tagesspiegel.de .
  38. ↑ Autoündler photographed fires and wanted to sell pictures . In: bild.de .
  39. ↑ Serial offenders in Berlin: Arsonists only set fire to Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Berliner Morgenpost , October 23, 2011, accessed on August 21, 2012 .
  40. ↑ Series car detonators: "The rich should get angry" . Tagesspiegel , March 9, 2012
  41. ↑ Car arsonists are said to have acted out of frustration . Die Welt , October 23, 2011
  42. ^ Gehrke, Kerstin: Trial of car arsonists: Seven years imprisonment for car arsonists . In: tagesspiegel.de , April 3, 2012, accessed on April 3, 2012.
  43. ↑ Mass evaluation of cell phone data outraged interior experts Spiegel-Online from January 20, 2012
  44. ↑ Radio cell query in the Berlin Interior Committee: four million queried data, no success of the investigation . In: netzpolitik.org , January 23, 2012