27.08.2022, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rostock: Das sogenannte Sonnenblumenhaus im Stadtteil Lichtenhagen, wo vor 30 Jahren rassistische Ausschreitungen stattfanden. Mit einer Demonstration unter dem Motto "Erinnern heißt verändern!" wird an die Ereignisse erinnert. Vor 30 Jahren hatten Anwohner und Neonazis in Lichtenhagen unter dem Applaus Tausender Schaulustiger die Zentrale Aufnahmestelle für Asylsuchende und ein Wohnheim für vietnamesische Arbeiter angegriffen und teils in Brand gesetzt. Foto: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

Unknown perpetrators sprayed a resident of the “sunflower house” in Rostock-Lichtenhagen on Saturday around 11 p.m. with an as yet unknown liquid. Whether the motive for the crime is related to an incident on the sidelines of the demonstration against racism in memory of the riots 30 years ago is currently being checked, the police said on Sunday.

The left-wing group “Alerta Berlin” wrote on Twitter at around 6:15 p.m. on Saturday that a man had shown a Hitler salute from an apartment in the “Sonnenblumenhaus”.

According to the police, the attacked man was a 25-year-old German. According to a police spokesman, the emergency services perceived the smell of chili or tabasco. Acid was initially not to speak, also because the skin of the victim showed no chemical burns. The liquid caused him a strong burning sensation, police said. The man’s skin was very red in the affected areas. The victim was taken to the Rostock Clinic. A local search for the perpetrators was unsuccessful. The criminal police are investigating on suspicion of dangerous bodily harm.

“Alterta Berlin” had posted a photo and a video on Twitter alongside the claim that a man had shown a Nazi salute. Both show a man looking out of a window in the “sunflower house”. A police spokesman confirmed on Sunday when asked by epd that the man seen was the later attack victim and that the apartment was the crime scene. The spokesman pointed out that neither the photo nor the video showed a Hitler salute.

The police are now not only determining whether there is a connection between the recordings and the crime, but also whether someone actually gave the Hitler salute during the commemoration event.

In the Lichtenhagen district of Rostock, several thousand people peacefully commemorated the racially motivated riots 30 years ago on Saturday. According to the police, around 3,600 people had gathered in Lichtenhagen around 2 p.m.

Another incident had occurred. A 13-year-old had allegedly shown the Hitler salute in front of the camera. According to the police, the young person rode into a recording on Thursday morning in the Lichtenhagen district on a bicycle behind a reporter and raised “his right arm”. The journalists immediately reported this to the police, who were able to pick up the 13-year-old nearby. Rostock’s police chief Anja Hamann had spoken of a “shameful incident” whose background was being determined.