- Attack: Two dead in an anti-Semitic attack in Germany with the stamp on the far right
A man dressed in military clothing, helmet and armed with a rifle lowers a car and, unhurriedly, fires indiscriminately in the direction of a synagogue, in full celebration of Yom Kippur. Reload several times and then store the weapon in the trunk of the car and get on it. The images, recorded by a neighbor, are somewhat grainy, but clearly demonstrate the new dimension that violence has taken in Germany. In this shooting, which was followed by another in a Turkish take-away establishment, two people have died. There were at least two seriously injured, who were operated urgently for gunshot wounds. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer reported that it was an "anti-Semitic" attack possibly from "extreme right . "
The Israeli embassy in Berlin speaks of a "brutal terrorist attack" during the prayer on the holiest day of Judaism. None of the victims belong to the Jewish community.
With the city of Halle on alert, the neighbors in their homes on the recommendation of the police and the author or perpetrators of the shootings on the run, the Attorney General's Office took the reins of the investigation by understanding that the facts were of special relevance For national security. Research lines were established that only this entity is responsible for opening, including terrorism and violent crimes with an extremist background.
After a day full of information that pointed in all directions, including international connections, at the end of the day there was only the certainty that the motivation for these events was hate, racism and xenophobia. The three attackers who initially shuffled given the short time between the attack on the synagogue, an explosion in the adjacent cemetery and the Turkish settlement, have been reduced to one. He was arrested as I suspect shortly after the shootings.
This is Stephan B., a 27-year-old German born in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, to which Halle belongs . He was the author of the shots. He acted alone and proof of this is the vision he recorded, predictably with an integrated camera in the case, while firing at the synagogue and the Turkish establishment. And while he does, he is heard anti-Semitic and extreme right insults. On numerous occasions he says "Jews", "cockroaches" and "shit aliens . "
The alarm was triggered at noon, after a few first shots at the Halle synagogue, a city of 233,000 inhabitants and among them a small Jewish community in full celebration of the Yom Kippur (Day of Forgiveness), one of the most important Jewish holidays. A woman who passed thirty meters from the entrance to the temple was killed. His body remained covered by a blue blanket on the street for hours , until the police collected the necessary evidence and the judge gave the green light to the removal of the body.
Almost simultaneously, an individual with the same characteristics as the one who shot in the vicinity of the synagogue bet in front of a Turkish cafeteria. According to the story of one of the people who were at that time having lunch and could see the individual through the showcase, he threw the grenade against the door, but bounced, so he started shooting at the crystals. A painter who worked in a nearby work and had come to the place to eat something, was shot. Local customers, about five or six people, at that time, tried to get safe under the tables and in the toilets. "Locked up and thinking that I would not live, I wrote a message to my family saying how much I loved her," said one of the witnesses . Shortly after I listen to the police and left.
Equally dramatic scenes must have been lived in the synagogue, where a bloodbath could have been difficult to assume for German society. More than a hundred people filled the temple. For the president of the Jewish community, Max Privorozki, there is no doubt that the community, precisely in the celebration of Yom Kippur, was the target of the attack. "We have seen the surveillance cameras of the synagogue and they clearly see how a heavily armed man tried to tear down the door. The individual seemed to belong to elite forces, but our door held," he says. Neither dead person belonged to the Jewish community.
What happened in Halle brings bad memories in Germany for its parallelism with the murders committed by the NSU terrorist cell, a far-right group that murdered nine migrants, mostly Turks, and a police officer, between 2000 and 2006 This same year, the mayor of the Kassel district Walter Lübcke, allegedly murdered by right-wing extremists.
Prior to the Jewish holiday and on a preventive basis, the police made searches in four federated states. The focus was on seven extremists from Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt who had allegedly threatened politicians and mosques. No connection has been found with the attack in Halle, an act that has been condemned by all political forces . For the Government, he described the events as "attack" and his spokesman, Steffen Seibert, reported on Twitter that Chancellor Angela Merkel has been informed of what happened and expressed her solidarity to the entire Jewish community.
Normality was restored in the Halle synagogue. The faithful resumed the celebration of Yom Kippur and with them the Christian churches of Halle, which last night offered mass for the victims of the shootings, expressing their condolences to the relatives.
The Prosecutor General's investigation, however, continues. After the shootings in Halle there were other Lansberg, a city located about 15 kilometers east. At the close of this edition, armed security forces continued patrolling the streets and carrying out searches, building by building, in the Wiedersdorf district. The Prosecutor's Office has not offered details of this operation.
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