After footage of German Antifa members brutally beating a number of citizens in Budapest in February was caught on film, Hungarians were in shock, and a number of suspects are still in Hungarian jail. Now, German police have conducted raids on far-left housing projects in the infamous Connewitz neighborhood in their hunt for more suspects, reports Hungarian media.
The German special police conducted a house search in Leipzig-Connewitz in the building block considered to be one of the centers of extreme far-left radicals in the east of the country. German police seized evidence and reportedly took three suspects into custody. The names of the suspects have not been released and the prosecutor’s office has not made any comment on the arrests, but Hungarian news outlet Magyar Nemzet indicates the suspects are believed to have been involved in the Budapest attacks.
The raid and house search were carried out by the staff of the Special Unit of the State Crime Bureau, the Police Terrorism and Extremism Protection Center (PTAZ). Senior state prosecutor Ricardo Schulz said only that the house searches were carried out as part of the investigation of the Leipzig prosecutor’s office, but did not reveal what was seized as evidence.
The Antifa members targeted innocent people between Feb. 9 and 11 with iron rods, hammers, pepper spray, and sticks because they thought the victims had attended a right-wing demonstration in Budapest. However, according to the police, none of the victims had even attended the rally and were only beaten because they had been wearing military-style boots or jackets, which led to them being mistaken for right-wing activists. Some of the victims suffered severe injuries that required hospitalization, including fractures and broken bones.
[pp id=66576]
The Hungarian press has since labeled these attackers as the “hammer gang” due to their use of hammers to attack their victims.
Police believe approximately 15 far-left radicals, mostly made up of Germans, Italians and Greeks, attacked eight innocent citizens at four points in Budapest.
On Feb. 13, the investigating Hungarian judge arrested 38-year-old Italian woman I. Selis and 29-year-old German Tobias E. In addition, 25-year-old German Anna CM was put under criminal supervision and must report to the BRFK by e-mail every week. The judge also ordered the arrest of 42-year-old Hungarian Krisztina D.
[pp id=66059]
According to German newspapers, the German authorities are currently investigating the relationship between the “hammer gang” members, Tobias E. and Anna CM, with the two far-left terrorist suspects who were recently arrested in Bavaria and were preparing to blow up a train.
Three East German far-left radicals who are also involved in the manhunt and are wanted by the BRFK may also be members of the gang. In addition, Moritz Christian, Leopold Schroeter, Clara Judith Wittkugel and Emilie Samira Dieckmann were directly involved in the Budapest attacks, according to police. They are all still on the wanted list.
