- Title: Hand grenade thrown at asylum shelter - German police
- Date: 29th January 2016
- Summary: VILLINGEN-SCHWENNIGEN, GERMANY (JANUARY 29, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** POLICE CAR OUTSIDE ASYLUM REGISTRATION CENTRE VARIOUS OF POLICE INVESTIGATORS SECURITY TAPE MIGRANT FROM IRAQ, AHMED DAKIL, TALKING TO FRIENDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM IRAQ, AHMED DAKIL, SAYING: "The feeling is not coming to my mind because I don't believe it, I don't believe it. It's very miserable, it's very horrible. The guys here, they are very frightened. But we think the security in Germany and the police, they are ok and they have a solution for those guys who are putting the bombs and making the fighting or anything like that." VARIOUS OF SCENE WHERE HAND GRENADE WAS THROWN HAY BALE WHERE GRENADE WAS SAFELY DETONATED VARIOUS OF POLICE AND INVESTIGATORS NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) KONSTANZ CHIEF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, JOHANNES-GEORG ROTH, SAYING: "This morning at 1:15 unidentified perpetrators threw a hand grenade over the fence of the asylum seeker reception centre on Datternbergstrasse in Villingen-Schwenningen towards the residential buildings. The grenade landed near a container used by security workers. The grenade did not explode. It was found by security employees who informed the police. The grenade was later safely detonated by defusal experts. It was filled with explosives but we do not yet know if had a detonator." BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION CHIEF ANDREAS STENGER SHOWING EXAMPLE OF M52 GRENADE (SOUNDBITE) (German) ROTTWEIL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS LEADER, DIETMAR SCHOENHERR, SAYING ON WHETHER THERE WAS A LINK TO FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISM: "I must say that is speculation and we have no indications that there is a link. It is however the case that we have a mature far-right scene in the area with a regional and cross-regional network." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG CRIMINAL DIVISION CHIEF, ANDREAS STENGER, SAYING: "The weapon's destructive potential lies in the shrapnel rather than the explosive force. The high kinetic energy of the splinters means they travel far away from the point of detonation. If these splinters hit somebody within 10 to 20 metres then it is completely fatal." POLICE OFFICER POINTING TO PHOTOGRAPH OF ASYLUM SHELTERS (SOUNDBITE) (German) POLICE DIRECTOR, RALF KIMM, SAYING: "It will depend on the results of the investigation over the next few days, but we are now increasing the police presence so that additional officers will be on the ground to pay extra attention to this reception centre." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 13th February 2016 15:18
- Keywords: hand grenade asylum shelters Germany refugees migrants police
- Location: VILLINGEN-SCHWENNINGEN, GERMANY
- City: VILLINGEN-SCHWENNINGEN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001423TJRB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A hand grenade was thrown at an asylum shelter in southern Germany in the early hours of Friday (January 29), police said.
The site was cordoned off as investigators inspected the scene in Villingen-Schwenningen in the south-west German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Standing near the scene, one migrant from Iraq said he couldn't believe what had happened at the shelter.
"I don't believe it. It's very miserable, it's very horrible. The guys here, they are very frightened. But we think the security in Germany and the police, they are ok and they have a solution for those guys who are putting the bombs and making the fighting or anything like that," Ahmed Dakil said.
Police said the hand grenade was thrown over the fence of the asylum seeker reception centre at 1.15 AM (0015 GMT).
"The grenade did not explode. It was found by security employees who informed the police. The grenade was later safely detonated by defusal experts. It was filled with explosives but we do not yet know if had a detonator," Konstanz chief public prosecutor Johannes-Georg Roth told reporters at a news conference.
The asylum seekers were evacuated while the hand grenade was destroyed in a controlled detonation. The perpetrators couldn't be identified yet, said Roth.
"It will depend on the results of the investigation over the next few days, but we are now increasing the police presence so that additional officers will be on the ground to pay extra attention to this reception centre," police director Ralf Kimm added.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and their left-leaning Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners agreed on Thursday (January 28) to tighten asylum rules, reaching a compromise on how to stem an influx of migrants that topped one million last year.
The new measures include a two-year ban on family reunions for asylum seekers who are granted limited refugee protection and speeding up the deportations of failed applicants, said Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, announcing the deal. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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