- Title: Two killed in shooting in eastern German city of Halle -police
- Date: 9th October 2019
- Summary: HALLE, GERMANY (OCTOBER 9, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS POLICE IN RIOT GEAR ON SITE POLICE CARS STREET WHERE SHOOTING OCCURRED VARIOUS OF POLICE IN RIOT GEAR VARIOUS OF POLICE WITH RESIDENTS
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2019 15:47
- Keywords: shooting Halle Synagogue dead
- Location: HALLE, LANDSBERG, GERMANY
- City: HALLE, LANDSBERG, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0DN4NB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Two people were killed in a shooting in the eastern German city of Halle on Wednesday and a suspect was arrested, police said, with broadcasters showing images of an alleged perpetrator dressed in combat garb including a helmet.
Mass-selling daily Bild said the shooting took place in front of a synagogue, and that a hand grenade was also thrown into a Jewish cemetery. An eyewitness told n-tv that someone had also fired shots into a kebab bistro in Halle.
The violence occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism when Jews fast for 25 hours, seeking atonement.
An unnamed eyewitness told local media the assailant at the synagogue was dressed in combat gear including a helmet and had thrown several explosive devices into the cemetery.
The mayor of the eastern German town of Landsberg said that two people suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting attack in the area had hijacked a car and were on a motorway that leads to Munich.
Anja Werner made the comments after two people were killed in a shooting in the eastern city of Halle and a second shooting incident was reported in nearby Landsberg.
Police did not immediately confirm the media reports associating the gunfire and grenade attack with Jewish targets.
Anti-Semitism is an especially sensitive issue in Germany, which during World War Two was responsible for the genocide of 6 million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust.
Despite comprehensive de-Nazification in the post-war era, fears of resurgent anti-Semitic hatred have never completely gone away, whether from fringe, far-right neo-Nazis or more recently from Muslim immigrants.
Occasional past attacks have ranged from the scrawling of Nazi swastikas on gravestones to firebombings at synagogues and even several murders. In recent years, cases of assault or verbal abuse, in some cases directed against people wearing traditional Jewish skullcaps, have raised an outcry.
(Productions: Bettina Borgfeld, NONSTOPNEWS, Ute Swart) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
