Lubeck – two men who threw stones at a synagogue and broke four windows were caught while running away. They subsequently returned unhindered to the site of the event. They wanted to apologize.
In the early hours of the morning of New Years Day (January 1) stones were thrown at a synagogue. Windows were broken on the first floor and on the ground floor of the building which contain residential apartments. The perpetrators were caught several minutes after the act in Muhlenstrasse, confessed to the information given by the police guarding the synagogue which is situated in St Annen Street. One of the residents reported:
“I just happened to look out of the window and I saw that two men were standing by the wall of the synagogue. They took stones out from under their overcoats and threw them at the building. They quickly ran off immediately afterwards”. The size of the stones were between 3 and 5 centimeters.
The police discovered later on that there were two men involved aged 20 and 28. The police opened an investigation against them on the ground of causing damage to property. What happened later drew the police to the site yet again: the two men who had in the meantime been released, returned to the synagogue half an hour later. The gate which was open and unguarded enabled them to gain entry to the yard of the synagogue and approach the building. Two female investigators were leaving the site just at that time after having gathered information on site and having collected testimony from the residents.
The two men approached the two plain clothes policewomen and told them and one of the tenants of the building that they were “the stone throwers” and said that they had come back in order to apologize to the residents. Their request was refused by the lady tenant who was there. Despite this a discussion ensued in the synagogue yard which lasted for several minutes; the two men were asked to leave and they were handed over to the police. Carola Essman, the police, emphasized that the residents were not exposed to any danger during the conversation.
Stefan Muhtz, the Lubeck Police Commander reported that the 20 year old suspect lived in Lubeck and was drunk when he committed the offense; an examination showed that the level of alcohol in his blood was 2.23 promil. The police spokesman added: “the second perpetrator is a 28 old man of Tunisian origin who holds German citizenship. He has a court appointed attorney. An examination of his blood shows that the level of alcohol was 0.5 promil”. Following consultation with the Lubeck Prosecutor it was decided to release the 2 men.
A spokesman for the Lubeck Prosecutors office, Klaus Dieter Schultz, added: “we have commenced an investigation on the ground of damage to public property, but we will have to wait for the findings of the investigation”. He also added that at the moment there is no proof of harm to state security. The Jewish Community did not wish to comment on the case.
