After a dispute in a disco in Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate), around 40 people attacked a group of police officers on Friday night. The emergency services were attacked “with iron bars, brooms, shovels and glass bottles”, the police said. At least five officers were injured. “The brutality and disinhibition of the attacks in Trier is stunned and angry,” said Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Michael Ebling (SPD) in the morning.
Police were called to the club west of the Moselle shortly after midnight after reports of assault. Due to the heated atmosphere and the large number of drunk people, several patrol cars were on their way, the police said. During the on-site investigation, some bystanders began to attack the officers. The police used pepper spray.
Around the same time, around 40 people gathered to attack the officers, the police statement said. A man even threw a shopping cart in the direction of the officers. “For the emergency services, who were outnumbered, this created a life-threatening situation,” it said. Only when an officer fired two warning shots in the air did the situation calm down and the police officers were able to bring the injured officers to safety.
Two men, aged 42 and 21, were taken into custody. Several fugitive suspects are still being sought. Investigations are being carried out on suspicion of bodily harm, resistance to law enforcement officials, serious breaches of the peace and attempted prisoner liberation.
“I have never experienced such an outbreak of violence against emergency services in my time as head of the Trier police station,” said police director Christian Hamm. “A group of violent criminals has banded together to attack and injure the police simply because of their presence.”
Interior Minister Ebling strongly condemned the attacks on police officers. The police headquarters in Trier have set up a so-called special organizational structure for the investigation. “The perpetrators should feel the full force of the law,” said Ebling. “Tonight, without any specific reason, we experienced a solidarity against police forces that we had never seen before.” It was only thanks to fortunate circumstances and quickly organized reinforcements that the forces were not injured even more seriously.
The police union (GdP) in Rhineland-Palatinate expressed shock at the high level of violence. “Group-related violence is not an isolated phenomenon, we last experienced it on New Year’s Eve, we often see it at football games and we will have to experience it again at other celebrations,” said Deputy GdP Country Manager Stefanie Loth in Mainz. The atmosphere in society is “getting worse and worse”. The police and judiciary need more staff to work quickly and consistently.
The federal government also reacted with horror to the brutal attack. “Gathering together and attacking emergency services with iron bars and bottles shows nothing but brute force, which must be pursued and punished with all severity,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) on Friday. She thanked the officers who stepped in to protect her colleagues.
The entire federal government condemns this outbreak of violence in the strongest possible terms, said deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner in Berlin. The incident shows that it was good that criminal law relating to violence against emergency services was tightened, most recently in 2017. The law must now be enforced with all consistency.
