State security investigates AfD and SPD man fight in bar - video shows incident
Shortly before Christmas, an SPD man and an AfD member come to blows in a German bar. An investigation is now underway.
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- A violent altercation broke out in Hürth near Cologne on December 21.
- Involved: The SPD parliamentary group leader Lukas Gottschalk and the AfD city councillor Norbert Raatz.
- The police are now investigating the incident on suspicion of dangerous bodily harm.
In Hürth near Cologne in the early hours of December 21, 2024, there was a violent altercation between SPD parliamentary group leader Lukas Gottschalk and AfD city councillor Norbert Raatz. The incident took place in a local pub and is now being investigated by police state security on suspicion of dangerous bodily harm.
Various accounts
According to Gottschalk, the escalation was preceded by xenophobic provocations from the AfD members and sexist insults towards his fiancée. A surveillance video published by Raatz shows the physical altercation, but without the context of the previous events. Gottschalk first pushes the AfD man against the bar, then punches him in the face.
Gottschalk regretted the escalation and announced that he would be suspending his political activities for the time being. He told dpa that everything had initially been calm: "Then the guests at the bar, including AfD councillor Norbert Raatz, took the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market as an opportunity to make loud racist and inhumane speeches. After my fiancée was also sexistically insulted by the landlord, there was also violence."
The SPD distanced itself from any form of violence.
The AfD strongly condemned the incident and demanded an apology from the SPD. The state spokesperson for the AfD, Martin Vincentz, described the incident as a "turning point" and emphasized that violence has no place in political discourse.
