A peaceful Christopher Street Day (CSD) ended with a bad experience for some visitors: As the police reported on Sunday, there were two homophobic attacks in the Mitte district after the large-scale demonstration through Berlin. First three young people were attacked, later a 32-year-old – each out of larger groups.
When the two 16 and 17-year-old girls and their 15-year-old companion were out and about in Panoramastrasse on Saturday around 8 p.m., they were insulted by a group of nine homophobic, it said. The group apparently took the young people’s clothing as the reason for the insults.
The 16-year-old therefore confronted the ringleader, who knocked her hat off her head and tripped her, causing her to fall to the ground, the police reported. When the teenager got up again, the stranger hit her in the face with his fist.
The young man then ran away in the direction of Rathausstraße. The rest of the group also fled. Alerted police forces searched the area unsuccessfully. The attacked suffered a wound on the lip, but refused treatment by the emergency services. The police state protection took over the further investigations into bodily harm and insult.
There was another attack on Sunday night at Henriette-Herz-Platz. A witness stopped him with her courageous intervention, the police reported. The 39-year-old observed at around 3:15 a.m. that a passer-by was pushed to the ground from a group and then kicked in the head and upper body. The witness stood protectively in front of the attacked, whereupon the group of about eight left.
According to the first findings, the 32-year-old had previously been homophobic insulted. When he ran away, the group caught up with him and physically attacked him.
The man suffered bruises, bruises and lacerations as a result of the attack. Alerted rescue workers treated him on an outpatient basis. In this case, too, the state security determined – because of dangerous bodily harm and insult.
On Saturday, 350,000 people took part in the large CSD demonstration. It moved from Leipziger Straße via Nollendorfplatz and Großer Stern to the Brandenburg Gate.
The CSD is a mixture of party and political protest for queer life, which goes back to the resistance of New York homosexuals against police violence in 1969. It took place in Berlin for the 44th time.
