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Police release photos of suspects behind two more Berlin U-Bahn attacks

Berlin police are searching for suspects behind two new cases of people being knocked down U-Bahn stairs or escalators after the high-profile Hermannstrasse attack last year.

Published: 11 July 2017 18:00 CEST
Police release photos of suspects behind two more Berlin U-Bahn attacks
A photo released by Berlin police of the Alexanderplatz attack.

Police this week released photos of two similar attacks at Berlin U-Bahn stations in which victims were pushed down either stairs or an escalator.

Photos released on Tuesday depict the 38-year-old victim at the tourist hub of Alexanderplatz falling down a flight of stairs. Police say that on June 11th, an unknown man hit the victim in the head from behind, causing him to fall down the stairs, with his head hitting the metal handrail multiple times.

Police note that there are no indications that the two men knew each other.

As the man fell down the stairs, the perpetrator stood above and watched.

“To see this is always upsetting,” said a police spokeswoman.

As a result, the victim sustained a serious head injury and numerous bruises all over his body, which had to be treated in hospital.

The perpetrator’s face and Chicago Bulls basketball jacket were captured relatively clearly by the security cameras, and police are hoping the release of the images will help them catch him.

“We are optimistic that we will get him,” said the spokeswoman.

Within just a few hours of publishing the photos, police had already received two tips.

Unlike in the high-profile “U-Bahn kicker” case from last October, police decided not to release the full video. Video material is only supposed to be released when all other police search methods have been exhausted.

The footage of last year’s case, depicting a man kicking an unsuspecting woman down the Hermannstrasse U-Bahn station’s stairs, sent shockwaves across Germany and beyond.

SEE ALSO: Berlin 'U-Bahn kicker' sentenced to nearly three years in prison

The perpetrator was ultimately found after the video was released, and last week sentenced to nearly three years in jail.

On Monday, police also released photos to help find two men behind an attack at the Gesundbrunnen U-Bahn station against three other men aged between 20 and 23. This attack took place in January.

Police say three victims were standing on the downward escalator when they heard a loud shout, turned around and saw the duo. One of the perpetrators clung to the handrails while he swung his legs out and kicked the 20-year-old man, who then fell down the moving stairs.

The pair then targeted the 23-year-old, kicking him in the upper body and face. They also reportedly choked the third man, 22, before fleeing. The first two were slightly injured, while the third man remained unharmed.

Photo: Berlin police

CRIME

Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

German authorities said Friday they had arrested a 27-year-old Syrian man who allegedly planned an Islamist attack on army soldiers using two machetes in Bavaria.

Published: 13 September 2024 11:17 CEST
Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

The suspect, an “alleged follower of a radical Islamic ideology”, was arrested on Thursday on charges of planning “a serious act of violence endangering the state”.

The man had acquired two heavy knives “around 40 centimetres (more than one foot) in length” in recent days, prosecutors in Munich said.

He planned to “attack Bundeswehr soldiers” in the city of Hof in northern Bavaria during their lunch break, aiming “to kill as many of them as possible”, prosecutors said.

“The accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of insecurity among the population,” they said.

German security services have been on high alert over the threat of Islamist attacks, in particular since the Gaza war erupted on October 7th with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Police shot dead a man in Munich this month after he opened fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate in Munich.

The shootout fell on the anniversary of the kidnap and killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian militants.

The 18-year-old suspect had previously been investigated by authorities in his home country Austria on suspicion of links to terrorism but the case had been dropped.

The incident capped a string of attacks in Germany, which have stirred a sense of insecurity in Germany and fed a bitter debate of immigration.

Three people were killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

READ ALSO: ‘Ban asylum seekers’ – How Germany is reacting to Solingen attack

The suspect in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, was a Syrian man who had been slated for deportation from Germany.

A federal interior ministry spokesman said if an Islamist motive was confirmed in the latest foiled attack, it would be “further evidence of the high threat posed by Islamist terrorism in Germany, which was recently demonstrated by the serious crimes in Mannheim and the attack in Solingen, but also by acts that were fortunately prevented by the timely intervention of the security authorities”.

The Solingen stabbing followed a knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May, which left a policeman dead, and which had also been linked to Islamism by officials.

Germany has responded to the attacks by taking steps to tighten immigration controls and knife laws.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn

The government has announced new checks along all of its borders and promised to speed up deportations of migrants who have no right to stay in Germany.

The number of people considered Islamist extremists in Germany fell slightly from 27,480 in 2022 to 27,200 last year, according to a report from the federal domestic intelligence agency.

But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned in August that “the threat posed by Islamist terrorism remains high”.

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