The riots early in the New Year's morning in the south of Leipzig triggered a nationwide debate - on left-wing radicalism as well as on violence by and against police officers. The struggle for sovereignty of interpretation is in full swing, although it is still not entirely clear what exactly happened around the Connewitzer Kreuz in the first hours of the new year.
One thing is certain: the authorities have arrested several alleged rioters after the incidents in the alternative left-wing Connewitz district, in one case the public prosecutor's office is investigating an attempted murder of an official. There are a total of 13 suspects, the first trial against a 27-year-old begins on Wednesday before the Leipzig District Court.
It is also clear that the police have since withdrawn the original dramatic formulations of an "emergency operation" by an official - after the "daily newspaper", citing hospital circles, had questioned this account.
Now several media, including "Zeit Online" and "taz", are reporting on an amateur video that is supposed to document part of the action. The clip is about a minute long and partly shaky, it shows only a small part of the processes in question. For some of the controversial points, the recordings are likely to be revealing:
- What role does the shopping cart attack play?
The police had announced on New Year's Eve that a "group of violent criminals" had tried to "push a burning shopping cart into the middle of a riot police unit". The "Soko LinX" at the State Criminal Police Office (LKA), which specializes in left-wing extremism, quickly took over the investigation. On January 2, a press release from the LKA and the public prosecutor's office said that the shopping cart had been pushed "in the direction of the police officers".
In the video now released, a burning shopping cart, which is covered with painted cardboard as a police car, can only be seen for a few seconds: one person pushes it across the intersection, then it disappears from the picture on the left.
Sebastian Willnow / DPA
Burning shopping cart on the cross in Connewitz: "stones, bottles and fireworks"
The picture does not show whether there were actually police officers - nor how and where exactly the shopping cart comes to a stop. According to the video, the officials who will be involved in the further course of the action are at a different location on the intersection.
The spokesman for the Leipzig investigative authority, Chief Prosecutor Ricardo Schulz, said: "The role of the shopping cart must be determined by the investigation." It can be said "not yet conclusively" how he relates to the attacks on the police officers.
- Was it a planned attack on the police?
The police reported on January 2 that riot police were thrown at the cross in Connewitz "with stones, bottles and fireworks". 20 to 30 perpetrators, some of whom were masked, also tore the helmets from several officers' heads, brought them down and attacked them.
Many of the details of this presentation are not supported by the video now available - but it does not refute them either. You can see, for example, how a policeman is brought down and how an attacker attacks another officer with a kind of karate kick. Fireworks also fly directly towards the police. In the background you can also hear calls, "piss off" and "skin off, you pigs".
Finally, towards the end of the video, you can see how an overtly injured officer is taken away by colleagues. The man's legs dragged weakly across the street. With a view to this video recording, there is much to suggest that police officers were targeted - the events in this sequence do not appear particularly planned or orchestrated.
- Has a police officer been brutally ripped off a helmet?
An official is said to have attacked unknown perpetrators in a particularly brutal manner: According to the investigators, they ripped his helmet off his head and wielded massive violence against the body and head.
The 38-year-old officially came to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury and a serious ear injury, where he was operated on. On the video it is not possible to tell whether the police officers' helmets were torn off their heads. The only thing that can be clearly seen is that not all emergency personnel wore helmets. Chief Prosecutor Schulz emphasized that the investigators' previous presentation was based on initial findings.
Apparently there are now doubts among investigators about this original account of what happened. "We will check how the police had no helmets on their heads," said Schulz. The video now released could possibly help. "We have to see if we can solve this."
DPA
Police operation in Leipzig-Connewitz: "An enormously dynamic event"
Schulz did not want to say what evidence the investigators have, for example in the form of videos. A call for witnesses on January 2 remained without response. Nobody reported that images were also not handed over to the police. The new video could only be seen when it was published in the media. "It will be taken into account in the investigation."
- Does the incident count as a murder attack?
The "Soko LinX" investigated for attempted murder. The death of the man was accepted. According to the prosecutor's office, the motives are low: the man was attacked because he was a police officer.
Chief Prosecutor Schulz now said that "at the moment there is no reason to depart from the initial suspicion of the attempted murder". The way in which the policeman was attacked allows the conclusion: "Whoever enters this way approves that someone will be killed." Details of the course of the crime, however, are unclear, he conceded. "It was an enormously dynamic event".
Schulz emphasized that the video demonstrates the basic facts. "A group of people who were prepared to use violence sought physical confrontation with the police" and "had a massive impact on the officials". The chief prosecutor referred to the karate jump in the cross of a policeman, which can be seen on the video.
How does the police explain their communication?
Only when asked did the police admit that parts of their first account of the incidents were incorrect or exaggerated. On Friday, the authorities had to withdraw the statement that the officer injured in the ear had undergone emergency surgery.
Police circles say that the situation changes regularly after the first press release. The basis is always the operational documentation, which is based on radio messages from police officers on site. The risk that every detail in the transmission is not correct cannot be eliminated.
A spokesman for the Leipzig police department did not want to comment on the matter and referred to the LKA and the public prosecutor. An LKA spokeswoman said the police have their own video footage of the incident, which is being used in the ongoing investigation. She didn't want to say what can be seen on these videos.
