The longest day of the year is followed by the shortest night, it’s always like that. But this time, the night of June 22 is particularly short for many in Munich. At 3 am, eight police cars were set on fire on Hochstrasse in der Au. Sirens wake the residents from their sleep, and later the noise of helicopters is added. As the day rests and the first images spread, sloughed white foam contrasts with the charred blacks of the team buses. Burnt hard hats and safety vests lying on the floor. Police officers block the street, secure evidence and debate. Everything points to arson. A fire broke out in several vehicles not directly adjacent to each other.
„Of course we assume that this is a fire crime related to the G7 meeting, because the forces involved in this operation were here in Munich,” says police spokesman Andreas Franken. The summit of the major Western economic powers, which will meet on Sunday led by Chancellor Olaf Schulz (SPD) in Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps, will be secured by a large force of police. As usual, there are mass protests against the meeting of heads of state and government. There is one in Munich for Saturday A big demonstration was recordedProtesters from all over Germany and parts of Europe are expected to attend.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Visser said on Monday she did not see a specific threat to the summit. The conference venue is already hermetically closed. Federal riot police officers, who are staying in a hotel not far from the crime scene in Hochstrasse, are also supposed to go there. Visser expects more activities from the extreme left side, but they are not excluded from the Corona protesters or in connection with the war in Ukraine. Manfred Hauser, chief of the Upper Bavaria police and chief of the task force at the summit, demonstrates his composure: „The incident did not surprise us,” he claimed. Franz Hasselbeck of the protest coalition „Stop G 7 Elmau” quickly and visibly distanced himself. He assumes that no NATO organization was involved in the deliberate Munich attack. Haslbeck asserts that „Stop G 7 Elmau” stands for peaceful protest.
The Munich police suspect the perpetrators are from the far left spectrum. The investigations are carried out by the 43rd Criminal Division, which is responsible for politically motivated crimes, in State Security, with the support of fire experts from Commission 13. “Every attack on the police is an assault on our constitutional state,” assures the President of the Police Union (GdP), Oliver Malchow. According to preliminary estimates, the damage is several hundred thousand euros. Expensive equipment in vehicles was also destroyed in the fire, which the hotel employee was the first to notice and which the fire brigade quickly took control of after their arrival. At least there are no injuries. Locals report popping sounds, but these are only tire bursts.
Although 20 patrol cars and several helicopters were used, the search for the culprits was initially unsuccessful, and the police hoped that witnesses would come forward. Forensic scientists are trying to determine exactly where and how the fires started. The area around the crime scene is on the right edge Essar Elevated Bank Confusing, it can be an advantage to give strangers an advantage when escaping. Police spokesman Franken said the police car was parked „not for long” in Hochstrasse. He doesn’t want to say much more than that. Just that you want to take „appropriate actions” so something like this never happens again. „These are not pictures that the Munich police like to see,” Franken says. „We will use this incident to educate our forces. This will of course be incorporated into our police deployment tactics.” Is the area around the neighborhoods where Operation G-7 police officers are housed now guarded at night? No comment.
The fire on police buses in Munich was not the first incident related to the G7 meeting in Schloss Elmau. The day before will be partial dangerous manipulations of known power distribution boxes, Inside the security perimeter around the conference venue. Smudges were also spotted, such as „Move G 7” and „No G 7”. In Munich, the phrase „Exploit the war of the attack” was written on the headquarters of the MTU arms company in Allach. A sign waves from a construction crane: „Save the climate. Fight imperialism. Stop the G-7.”
From Wednesday, there are still three nights left until the big demo, which begins on Saturday in Theresienwiese and is then supposed to travel through the city centre. You may look especially tall to the police.
