The Regional Court in Leipzig shall judge a man accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of two counts of attempted murder. In one case, a police officer was “briefly on fire up to waist-high”.
A year after the riots on “Day X” in Leipzig, the Public Prosecutor”s Office has filed charges against a 25-year-old. The justice authority announced on Monday that he is accused of attempted murder in two cases and grievous bodily harm in 18 cases, among other charges. He allegedly threw two firebombs, as well as stones and pyrotechnics, at police officers during the protests on 3 June 2023, held in response to the verdict in the so-called “Antifa East” trial in Leipzig.
A report on the left-wing internet platform “Indymedia” also mentions the charges. The accused is referred to as “Benni”; he is reportedly facing two additional, unspecified offences.
No police officers were injured by the firebombs. However, the Prosecutor”s Office stated that, according to investigators, “Benni” had at least tacitly accepted the possibility that officers could be killed by the devices.
During the riots, 18 police officers were injured by stones and fireworks thrown from the crowd, according to the Prosecutor”s Office. These injuries are now also being attributed to the 25-year-old, as he acted in concert with others. It is irrelevant whether his specific throws were the cause, according to the justice authority”s argument.
The Leipzig Regional Court is now set to deliberate on the indictment. First, the judges must decide whether to admit the charges. The young man turned himself in to the authorities in January 2024 and has been in pre-trial detention since then.
The act during “Day X” in Leipzig is also mentioned in a separate section of the 2023 constitutional protection report, which was presented on Tuesday. According to the report, demonstrators threw firebombs at police at two locations “in close temporal proximity”. In one case, two officers were “briefly on fire up to waist-high”. In the other instance, there is said to have been “a flame at least two metres high”.
The Prosecutor”s Office views both cases as attempted murders by “violent left-wing extremists.” The president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Germany”s domestic secret service) cited them on Tuesday as evidence that the left-wing scene is willing to accept the possible death of their victims. The report on “Indymedia” rejects such an assertion. Killing people is “not part of the agenda of the left-wing movement in Germany,” it states.
“Day X” was an activist reaction to the conviction of student Lina E. for attacks on neo-Nazis. Various demonstrations took place in Leipzig around 3 June 2023 in response. Overall, the authorities are investigating 1,321 people in connection with these events, including over 100 minors.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: During protests on “Day X”, pyrotechnics were also thrown at the police (Tim Wagner via Umbruch).
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