Coronavirus: Gas station attendant attacked after a mask dispute

Coronavirus
Gas station attendant attacked after a mask dispute

Mask dispute: A petrol station employee has been attacked in Bremen. Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa

© dpa-infocom GmbH

An attack in Bremen brings back memories of the petrol station murder in Idar-Oberstein in Rhineland-Palatinate. Back then, too, a dispute over the mask requirement was the trigger for the attack.

A gas station attendant was attacked in Bremen after a dispute over the mask requirement. A 21-year-old man hit and kicked the seller lying on the ground several times, the police said.

Meanwhile, Lower Saxony’s constitution protection president Bernhard Witthaut warned against further acts of violence from the group of corona deniers and so-called lateral thinkers.

Witthaut referred to the fatal attack on a petrol station employee in Idar-Oberstein (Rhineland-Palatinate). The 20-year-old was shot by a customer in mid-September after he had repeatedly drawn his attention to the corona-related mask requirement. “This is an extreme example of where this radicalization can develop in individuals,” said Witthaut of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. The danger of comparable acts is real.

After the attack in Bremen on Wednesday morning, the 67-year-old gas station attendant was taken to a hospital for outpatient treatment. The 21-year-old attacker had initially entered the gas station in the Gröpelingen district as a customer without mouth and nose protection. After the gas station attendant drew his attention to the obligation to wear, he came back a little later with his mask on and attacked the seller. After the fact, he came back to the scene and turned himself in to the police. The Bremer is now being investigated for dangerous bodily harm, property damage and theft.

«The time of the large demonstrations against corona measures seems to be over. But it is precisely on the Internet that one can observe how statements are becoming more and more radical, ”said Witthaut, President of the Protection of the Constitution. Meanwhile, people are openly calling for an overthrow. “The progressive radicalization of parts of the movement harbors dangers,” emphasized the President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Out of the misguided view of the world, people could feel called to resort to extreme means in the future as well.

dpa

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