The police in Hagen apparently prevented an explosives attack on the synagogue there. According to Interior Minister Reul, there has been an extremist threat. Apparently four people were arrested.
After the large-scale operation at a synagogue in Hagen, the police arrested four people, including a 16-year-old from the North Rhine-Westphalian city. As the local police announced on Thursday, several objects in Hagen were also searched. During the night, numerous emergency services had secured the building on Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, following “indications of a possible danger in connection with a Jewish facility”.
The current investigations served to “corroborate or dispel a suspicion,” said the police. If necessary, more searches would follow. No further information was initially given about the arrested persons. According to Reul, there has been a serious extremist threat in the case. “There was a risk of an attack on the synagogue in Hagen,” said Reul at the swearing-in ceremony for young police officers in Cologne. “Your colleagues probably prevented that.”
The “Spiegel” previously reported that a 16-year-old Syrian is said to have prepared an explosives attack. According to information from the news magazine, the police searched the youth’s apartment in the morning.
Police in Hagen because of “possible danger” in action
On Wednesday afternoon, strong police had cordoned off the synagogue in the North Rhine-Westphalian city after there had been indications of a “possible danger situation”. The street in the city center, on which the synagogue is located, was blocked 250 meters away. A service planned for Wednesday evening on Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, was canceled at short notice.
On Yom Kippur two years ago, an armed right-wing extremist tried to forcefully break into the synagogue there in Halle in Saxony-Anhalt. When the door held out, he shot two people nearby and injured two others while trying to escape.
According to “Spiegel”, the security authorities had received a tip from a foreign secret service. The partner service had warned of a suspected Islamist in Germany who had behaved suspiciously on the Internet. The investigation led to the 16-year-old who lives in Hagen in an apartment with his father.
According to the “Spiegel”, the public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf is investigating the young person on suspicion of preparing a serious, state-endangering act of violence. In response to a DPA request, a spokesman for the authority initially only wanted to confirm that the central office for terrorist tracking in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is connected to the authority, is involved in the investigation. “More details cannot be given at the moment,” said the spokesman. In the meantime, it was reported from North Rhine-Westphalian security circles that the Attorney General had been turned on.
The special measures taken by the police in front of the Hagen synagogue were completed that night. “No evidence of a hazard could be found on site,” said the Dortmund police. The police were still present in the morning: A DPA photographer reported of several patrol cars near the synagogue and of officers armed with submachine guns.
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