At a party of the SPD parliamentary group, several women fell victim to an attack with so-called knockout drops. This comes from an internal SPD chat that is available to the Tagesspiegel. “There are now 8 people affected, one case confirmed by a test and one display against unknown persons,” it says. The Berlin police are investigating.
The incidents happened last Wednesday at the parliamentary party’s courtyard party in the Tipi tent at the Chancellery, which was attended by MPs, employees from the German Bundestag and the constituencies. According to the parliamentary group, there were around 1,000 participants in total.
It is usually a celebration with well over 2,000 guests, including guests from companies, other parties and journalists. This year, however, it was celebrated in a smaller, SPD-internal framework due to the corona pandemic.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz also attended the event. The Tagesspiegel also has a letter from the SPD parliamentary group leader Mathias Martin to the SPD members of the Bundestag, which says: “At our summer party there were obviously attacks on colleagues with knockout drops. This is an outrageous event, which we immediately reported to the Bundestag police.” The SPD parliamentary group recommends that other people affected “report this to the police immediately”.
The Berlin criminal police have started investigations into dangerous bodily harm against unknown persons. A total of five people affected had been registered by Saturday morning, the authority announced on Saturday.
Among them was a 21-year-old woman who complained of feeling unwell, dizziness and memory loss after the party. According to the police, she ate and drank at the party with around 1,000 guests on Wednesday afternoon and evening, but did not consume any alcohol. From around 9.30 p.m. she is said to have become unwell and dizzy. The morning after, she couldn’t remember the evening.
