Investigation into riots Bonn police collect videos from the night of violence in Medinghoven
Bonn · After the riots in Medinghoven on New Year's Eve, the police's State Protection Service has started investigations. Officers distributed handouts at the scene on Monday.
Some residents still have the images of the violent night on New Year's Eve in Medinghoven in their minds, when a group of about 40 young people set fire to numerous rubbish bins, car tyres and hedges on the Europaring. Many stood on balconies and feared that the flames could spread to their houses. They even speak of fearing for their lives when they meet police officers Dieter Wojtak and Stephan Hackenberg, who are handing out flyers on Monday as part of the investigation in Medinghoven and asking for tips as well as photographs and video recordings. The outrage is great, because during the attack, the mainly masked people also massively attacked the emergency services. Videos can be seen on the Tiktok platform showing burning rubbish bins and a large group of people. Police officers can also be seen in the videos. They are repeatedly shot at with fireworks. According to the police, the emergency vehicles were also pelted with stones, so that firefighters and police officers had to retreat until the police reinforcements arrived (the GA reported).
Now Wojtak and Hackenberg are distributing around 200 leaflets in those high-rise buildings that are in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene. The leaflets explain how witnesses who may have filmed the crime or been sent video recordings can upload them to the NRW police tip portal and make them available to the police for further investigations. "This is also possible anonymously," Wojtak emphasises.
Already on the spot, an 89-year-old resident spontaneously makes use of the police appeal and hands over a data carrier to the two patrol officers. On it are picture files from the night that the man took from his balcony. The estimated 40 to 50 people he saw during the commotion "were totally aggressive", he says. It was particularly shocking for him to see "that they specifically shot at the fire brigade and the police with the missiles". A 72-year-old woman also filmed the riots on the Europaring from her balcony. "I like living here very much and actually everyone lives together here completely peacefully." She has "never experienced anything bad" on the Europaring. But not so on New Year's Eve, when, according to the 72-year-old, the later events had been foreshadowed: "The group of young people, almost all dressed in black and wearing masks, started shooting at each other across the street long before midnight." The senior citizen then felt increasingly stunned, "even downright helpless" as the night progressed.
Police investigation in full swing
Meanwhile, the police investigation is in full swing. According to the press office, the police are investigating the suspected breach of the peace, arson and damage to property. According to police spokesman Simon Rott, a 19-year-old man who was arrested at the scene of the crime during the night was allowed to leave the police station after his personal details had been established and he had undergone identification procedures. He is now the subject of criminal proceedings, in which the investigators are also pursuing initial leads on possible participants in the crime. Asked where the arsonists came from, Rott said: "We assume that they all come from the Bonn city area." He said the 19-year-old resided close to Medinghoven.
The 73-year-old former Bundeswehr officer Bernd Christian Müller, who has been a volunteer district manager in Medinghoven for more than two decades, had met a resident while cleaning up on New Year's Eve who told him about a posting that had been circulating on social media for days. Among other things, it said that right-wing groups wanted to storm Medinghoven on New Year's Eve and "hunt down foreigners". A posting that had also been available to the police for some time, as Rott says. "Last week, the Bonn police checked a posting about an alleged gathering on New Year's Eve in Medinghoven. This tip could not be verified in advance," Rott explains. Nevertheless, the police presence had already been increased in the context of a special operation in the Bonn city area on New Year's Eve. When asked how it could have happened that the first police and professional fire brigade personnel in Medinghoven had to retreat at first in order not to endanger their lives, Rott said that the massive attack had not been foreseeable.
Perpetrators must also expect claims for damages
"We condemn these attacks on the fire brigade's emergency services and the police officers deployed in the strongest possible terms," said Bonn's deputy police chief, Senior Police Director Andreas Koch. According to the state of the investigation so far, it was also due to "fortunate circumstances" that no emergency services or residents were injured by the attacks of the perpetrators of violence. "This behaviour must be consistently punished."
In addition to criminal convictions, the 19-year-old and his accomplices, who have yet to be identified, must also expect substantial civil claims for damages, according to the police. In addition to the rubbish containers, a car, an e-scooter and the road surface were also severely damaged in the street fire. It was not possible to find out the total amount of damage yesterday. According to vice city spokesman Marc Hoffmann, the civil engineering office will inspect the damaged roadway of the Europaring this Tuesday.
