Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Attack on girl – Minister: “racist motive”
According to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Interior Minister Christian Pegel, the incident in Grevesmühlen was motivated by racism
© Markus Scholz / DPA
A group of young people are said to have attacked two Ghanaian girls in Grevesmühlen. An eight-year-old and her father were injured. The state interior minister and mayor expressed their horror.
An alleged racist attack by a group of young people on two Ghanaian girls in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has caused horror. According to police, an eight-year-old girl and her father were slightly injured in the incident in Grevesmühlen. Both were taken to hospital by ambulance.
According to initial findings by investigators, the eight-year-old girl and her ten-year-old sister were attacked by a group of around 20 teenagers and adolescents on Friday evening at around 7:30 p.m. The attackers are said to have kicked the younger girl in the face, among other things. When the children’s parents arrived, an argument broke out with them as well, according to police reports.
Up to eight people involved in attack
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Interior Minister Christian Pegel condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. “You don’t attack people, especially not children and certainly not for racist reasons,” said the SPD politician. There is no place for racism in society.
As a spokesman for the police operations control center told the German Press Agency, emergency services took down personal details after the incident. Among the known names were also possible suspects. The investigators are now looking into the matter.
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When the police arrived on the scene on Friday evening, one person from the group allegedly insulted the victims with xenophobic remarks as they left. Up to eight people from the group took part in the attack, the police said. They are investigating for breach of the peace, dangerous bodily harm, incitement and insult. The officers are looking for witnesses to the incident.
Mayor of Grevesmühlen speaks of “bottomless hatred”
Grevesmühlen’s mayor Lars Prahler told NDR 1 Radio MV, “This racially motivated act simply leaves me speechless. It shows bottomless hatred and unbridled inhumanity and cannot be excused.” Nor is it an excuse that the victims were young people. Prahler expressed his condolences to the girls’ family and announced that he would contact them as soon as possible.
The local town festival is to take place despite the incident. “Because we don’t want to let such actions by fringe groups dictate how we want to live together as a city society,” said Prahler.
“I believe we are living in very difficult times right now, when complex problems are on the streets and it is easy for those who use stupid slogans and simple solutions to capture people, as people catchers,” said Prahler. It is time for the majority of society, which rejects the drift into racist views of humanity, to make its voice heard and take a stand.