Solingen
Four dead after fire: funeral procession for fire victims
Four people died and several were injured in a house fire in Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday morning. photo
© Christoph Reichwein/dpa
After the suspected arson in an apartment building in Solingen, there is currently no urgent suspicion. Hundreds of people came together for a funeral march.
Five days after the suspected arson in a residential building in In Solingen, several hundred people followed a funeral march for the victims. The participants marched from the city center to the burned-out house and, according to a dpa reporter, shouted “enlightenment” and “justice for all” in Turkish. The city and the families of the deceased invited people to the funeral march, which was declared silent.
During the devastating fire early on Monday morning, a family from Bulgaria was unable to escape from the attic of the house. The 28 and 29 year old parents and two girls aged three years and five months were killed. According to the public prosecutor’s office, three injured people are being treated in intensive care. There is no information about her condition.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, there has so far been no urgent suspicion. A man who had been temporarily arrested was released after his alibi was checked and confirmed.
According to police, around 600 people took part in the funeral procession, and another 120 held a vigil at the burned-out house. Co-organizers estimated the total number of participants at more than 1,000. Some participants waved Bulgarian flags and held up pictures of the victims. An imam recited Quranic surahs.
Memories of 1993
At the request of the relatives, Mayor Tim Kurzbach asked that political messages be avoided. “We stand here, like you, deeply shocked,” Kurzbach said in a speech. “In these moments of darkness, we can only come together in tears to show respect for those who have died.”
The chairman of the Islamic association Ditib, Muharrem Kuzey, said he was reminded of the arson attack in Solingen in 1993. “House fires trigger a deep-rooted fear in us, they have become a deep trauma in us.” In May 1993, five women and girls of Turkish origin were murdered in a nighttime arson attack with a right-wing extremist background. The attack marked the low point in a series of racist attacks on people of foreign origin in Germany.
Intentional arson?
Meanwhile, investigators are pursuing further information about the fire. So far there has been no urgent suspicion, as public prosecutor Heribert Kaune-Gebhardt said at the request of the German Press Agency. “We are pursuing a number of investigative approaches.” According to the public prosecutor’s office, there are currently no indications of a racist background. According to a preliminary report from experts, it is assumed that arson was intentionally set. The remains of an accelerant were found in the wooden stairwell.