Migrants attack on graduation party – investigations also into sexual harassment

Six weeks after the violent attack by a large group of migrants at a graduation party in a Görlitz disco, the police have expanded the investigation. While the investigators initially focused on ten people immediately after the attack, the number has now grown to 16. This was announced by the Görlitz police department FOCUS online on request.

As the public prosecutor’s office confirmed to FOCUS online on Friday afternoon, all 16 suspects so far are foreign nationals. One of the three Syrian nationals who were taken into custody has since been released. There had been a complaint from his lawyer. Since there was no risk of escaping because the person concerned had a permanent residence in Germany, the man was released from custody.

In addition to the suspicion of a serious breach of the peace, the suspected sexual harassment of a woman by the attackers is now also being investigated.

Attack on graduation party in Görlitz: At 3.20 a.m. the mood changed

The brutal attack took place on the night of July 8th in the well-known Görlitz discotheque “L2” between 3.20 a.m. and 3.40 a.m. The graduation party was a closed party until around 11 p.m., then the discotheque was reopened to the general public.

According to previous police investigations, up to 20 people with a migration background appeared late at night and initially insulted several guests. At a certain point, the provocations degenerated into a brutal brawl. “At least five males of German nationality between the ages of 18 and 48 were injured,” the police reported. Three injured were taken to hospital by paramedics.

suspected sexual harassment

What is new is that in one case the investigators are also investigating one or more attackers on suspicion of sexual harassment of a female guest. “There is an initial suspicion,” confirmed police spokesman Maximilian Funke to FOCUS online. He did not give details.

Previously, Sebastian Wippel, AfD member of parliament from Görlitz and a police officer by profession, had spread such an accusation, citing statements from eyewitnesses. Wippel had spoken of “Arabs” and explained in a podcast that the attackers considered themselves “irresistible” and tried “to take what they believed they were entitled to”, which then “didn’t work that way has”.

In the subsequent brawl that then developed, attackers “jumped into the crowd with broken beer mugs.” Others would have pulled their belts and hit with the buckles at celebrating guests. The Görlitz police department did not want to comment on these descriptions either.

Cell phone video shows scenes of violence

A cellphone video that has been circulating on social media since the incident shows several people throwing hard objects at a side entrance to the nightclub, apparently including bottles. One of the bouncers seems to have been injured in one of the throws, some of which were very violent.

The police, who were on site with several patrols from the responsible police station, the squadron and the riot police, initially provided twelve male people between the ages of 19 and 35, all of whom are of Syrian, Turkish, Iraqi and Lebanese nationality. Ten had been temporarily arrested and arrest warrants had been issued for five of them. Three ended up in custody, two were immediately released.

Attackers also come from the Görlitz area

In which city the migrants are currently living and how long they have been in Germany, the police did not want to disclose for investigative reasons, even six weeks after the incident. However, the initial five main suspects apparently do not only come from Görlitz. Police stations from Bautzen and Zittau-Oberland were also involved in the “presentation” to the magistrate, as the police themselves explained in a press release on July 9th.

More than 500 video sequences of migrant attack

The police and public prosecutor’s office have been silent for weeks about the motive and the dynamics – “due to ongoing investigations,” as Funke explained. “As in every criminal proceeding, we investigate each accused in an incriminating and exculpatory manner,” says Funke.

The police spokesman pointed to an “unusually high level of effort” in the evaluation of information and witness statements. “There are also more than 500 video sequences of the incident that have to be viewed and classified in terms of criminal relevance”. The investigative group “Tilia” is working at “full speed”