A police patrol in Connewitz, a district in Leipzig that’s become closely associated with far-left extremism over the years, was attacked by a mob of 30 to 40 alleged left-wing extremists after they responded to report that several garbage bins had been set alight at the Herderpark.
After arriving at the scene early Sunday morning at roughly 1:15 a.m., the police quickly realized they had been lured into an ambush, when dozens of alleged left-wing extremists hurled glass bottles and other projectiles at their vehicle before the group split up into different directions, local German newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung reports.
“When informed police officers arrived on site, their patrol car was pelted with bottles by a group of around 30 to 40 people,” a spokesperson for Leipzig police told BILD, Germany’s most widely-circulated newspaper.
An investigation into the breach of peace has been launched. Given that a political motive could not be excluded, apparently, the possibility of the State Criminal Police Office taking control of the case is being considered.
The Connewitz district in the Eastern German city of Leipzig, has over the years become well-known for its large population of far-left extremists who regularly attack the Connewitz police station.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) in Saxony has noted that violent left-wing extremism is particularly pervasive in Leipzig, Remix News previously reported.
“The violence-oriented left-wing extremist scene is reaching a new level of escalation due to the criminal and violent acts it has committed,” the BfV Saxony reported.
In 2019, Leipzig saw a string of highly organized, well-planned attacks against people and property by left-wing extremists. Individuals describing themselves as “anarchists” repeatedly attempted burning down multiple construction sites in the city. The attacks are said to have resulted in at least €10 million in damage.
In November 2019, an employee of the construction company that the self-described anarchists had been waging war against, was viciously beaten by members of the extremist group in her own home after they forcefully took it over.
These events prompted the creation of a special police taskforce named Soko-Linx whose sole task is to investigate left-wing crimes with a suspected political motive.
In January, an attempt to burn down the state registration authority in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony was made. Police assigned to the case say that the suspects have left-wing extremist backgrounds.
Last New Year’s Eve, a 38-year-old police officer in Leipzig was nearly beaten to death by a mob of ten or so militant Antifa members in the Connewitz district. The extremists beat the officers so badly that some of his injuries required him to undergo emergency surgery at a nearby hospital that same night.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) noted that a 22-page analysis carried out by the domestic intelligence service in 2020 indicated that a trend toward radicalization in the left-wing extremist or “anarchist” was growing. In the same 22-page analysis, published last year, the report cautioned against the “emergence of terrorist structures within far-left extremist scene”.
