The District Court of Alsfeld on Wednesday found a young man guilty of assaulting law enforcement officials in a particularly serious case involving bodily harm.

When the protest camps in the Dannenröder forest were cleared against the further construction of Autobahn 49, he threw stones at police officers.

He hit at least one officer on November 14, 2020 in the shin.

At that time the defendant was 20 years and seven months old.

David Christopher H., who feels like a woman and wants to be addressed as Jana, has now been warned under youth criminal law and sentenced to a fine of 600 euros to the "Germany helps" campaign.

He was acquitted of charges of breach of the peace.

The public prosecutor and the defense can apply for a revision within one week.

The injured police officer described the incident.

Several people threw objects out of a group that day.

One of the masked demonstrators wore "conspicuous yellow gloves" that were obviously too big for him.

A stone thrown by this person hit him in the shin, the key witness reported.

The young man was identified based on the gloves and other items of clothing and arrested half an hour later.

The stone bounced off the policeman's leg and also hit a colleague on the leg.

Both would have been in pain, but had not been written off.

The second witness said he could not see the stone thrower.

The representative of the youth welfare recommended the application of the youth criminal law to the lay judges.

In discussions with the accused, she came to the conclusion that the adolescent suffered from a "considerable delay in maturity" at the time of the crime almost two years ago, one of the prerequisites for the application of juvenile criminal law to persons between 18 and 21 years of age.

He had a difficult childhood, characterized by constant moves, the separation of his parents and bullying at school.

He dropped out of school shortly before graduation because of too much pressure.

After that he traveled a lot.

He did not have a steady job.

In the past few months, the young man has found professional orientation.

Next week he wants to start a job in the federal volunteer service, so he wants to get involved in society.

Since the arrest in the Dannenröder Forest, he has not been guilty of any criminal offenses.

Therefore, the social worker sees him on a positive path.

She suggested stipulating that her client go through with the voluntary year and apologize in writing to the injured party.

Prosecutor Volker Bouffier said the allegation of physical harm was supported by videos, most of which were recorded by the police, and witness statements.

He saw a high potential for aggression and an attack on the rule of law.

He therefore called for the adult criminal law to be sentenced to ten months in prison, suspended for three years.

In his view, the evidence was not sufficient to establish a breach of the peace.

The defense pleaded for acquittal.

He claimed that the police temporarily lost sight of the accused in the half hour between the stone throwing and the arrest and that it was not possible to be sure that it was the same hooded person.

In addition, due to the sometimes dense smoke caused by pyrotechnics, hardly anyone could be clearly identified.

Judge Bernd Süss explained in the verdict that each individual point is not sufficient for a conviction.

In the overall view of the witness statements and videos, however, there are many similarities, which led him and the two lay judges to the verdict.

In a personal closing statement, David Christopher H. lamented his "month-long imprisonment" and criticized the existing "repressive system".

Because he did not reveal his personal details, he was in custody for three months.

He denounced the fact that only bodily harm was being talked about, but not about injustice in the world, such as desperate refugees who wanted to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

There is also not enough talk about the "destruction of our livelihood".