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Minister Lisa Paus
Photo: IMAGO/Political Moments
The fire was discovered shortly after midnight by a Green Party employee who was still working there: unknown persons attacked the office of Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus in her Berlin-Charlottenburg constituency.
A wooden bench caught fire in front of the house, and the flames also attacked the window frame of the shop window.
The employee, a passer-by and later the fire brigade extinguished the fire.
Nobody got hurt.
The state security agency responsible for politically motivated crimes in the Berlin State Criminal Police Office (LKA) is investigating.
In the immediate vicinity, the abbreviation NSU was written on a construction site protection on the house, said a police spokeswoman.
It will be checked whether the graffiti is new, related to the arson attack and whether the perpetrator comes from the right-wing extremist spectrum.
NSU is the abbreviation for the terrorist group »National Socialist Underground«, which murdered eight small business owners of Turkish origin and one small business owner with Greek origins, as well as a German policewoman.
According to the police, an employee of the Greens office in Windscheidstrasse testified that the abbreviation had not previously been there.
Paus tweeted photos and wrote: »Last night there was an arson attack on @Grune _CW's shared office.
State security is investigating.
The shock is deep, but we won't be intimidated!” The photos show a charred bench made of wooden pallets and the burned window.
Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) wrote: “That is terrible, dear Lisa.
Thank God nothing happened to anyone.« The Berlin Greens and many Berlin state politicians declared their solidarity.
The Greens in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, who also use the office, said: "The act goes beyond party lines and should be condemned as an attack on our democratic system."
as/dpa
