According to security authorities, a total of 164 cars were set on fire in the capital in the first half of 2019. Another 115 adjacent cars were also damaged by the fires.
The police assume that in many cases the arson was the work of left-wing extremists. Thus, in addition, 19 company cars and service vehicles of the public order office in Neukölln had been set alight. In January, the car of an AfD politician was also torched.
In other cases, 24 suspects identified allegedly acted without a political motive. Also, people set fire to cars in acts of pure vandalism, for revenge in the private sphere or insurance fraud. In 2011, 537 cars was torched directly. As a result, German police has set up a special commission to hunt down the arsonists.
But the marked increase in arson attacks is apparently no cause for concern for some politicians. The leftist Berlin SPD politician Tom Schreiber has instead threatened policemen in the capital with “consequences” if they criticize the rainbow flag on official buildings.
During the so-called Pride Week Berlin, the flag of the homosexual movement was spotted in front of several police buildings.
On Monday, the police in Berlin, whose Twitter profile picture is currently decorated in rainbow colours, showed a photo of two policemen on the short message service, hoisting such a flag in front of their office. This was a “sign of compassion and respect” according to Schreiber who is a homosexual himself.
He issued an stern warning to all police officers: “If police officers actually write anything about a violation of neutrality, I’ll ask for their names. Then the immediate supervisor and the authorities will take care of it! Me too!”
After a question by a Twitter user, on whether this was an attempt to intimidate opponents, the SPD politician replied: “No, but a consistent indication that you as an official must also stand by the values and tolerance!”
In another post, Schreiber added that hoisting the rainbow flag stands for “attitude”. To show this is “very important” and “not negotiable”. Those “types” with something against the rainbow flag, are his enemies, he said.
In 2008, the then Berlin police chief Dieter Glietsch caused a stir when on the same occasion he had the rainbow flag hoisted outside the police headquarters. He also wanted to set a “sign of tolerance and cosmopolitanism”.
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