Repentance after the riot in Frankfurt

• fromStefan Behr

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The first trial of the Frankfurt Opernplatz riots in July ends lightly: The accused receives a very extraordinary sentence.

Elyas T. is not exactly the accused one was expected to be. The 20-year-old has to answer before the Frankfurt district court on Wednesday for serious breach of the peace, attempted dangerous bodily harm and resistance to law enforcement officials.

This is usually not a big thing, but rather the usual end to a pub crawl through Alt-Sachsenhausen, and trials of this kind occur every week. The enormous media interest in this case is explained by the fact that T. is the first defendant in connection with the Opernplatz riots on the night of July 19, 2020.

A mob of around 3,500, according to the indictment, “mostly young men” protested against the corona-related eviction of the square, which had established itself as a party mile. With remarkable results: five injured police officers: inside, three tons of broken glass, 15,000 euros in damage and a city shaken to the core.

That night T. had thrown a bottle of vodka that had previously been emptied by hand at the emergency services without hitting. And then he showed a remarkable sporting performance: With hands tied behind his back and 1.17 per thousand in blood, he had managed a proud 550 meters on the run from the officers before they caught up with him and brought him to the ground. So far, so normal. What is noticeable, however, is that T., who was arrested after a short fidgeting, did not announce to the officer inside as usual that he wanted to have the sexual act with her mothers, but instead asserted several times: “I’m sorry!”

I apologize

Born in Frankfurt, he comes from the Ben-Gurion-Ring, which is famous for its party and event scene, but is a rather atypical representative of this clientele. He has never before come into conflict with the law. Like his older brother, Elyas still lives with his parents, which helps both of them to cope with the studies they started after graduating from high school. The parents, who both had their backs in underpaid jobs – postman and cleaning staff – wrote a letter to the police two days after the arrest, in which they were “full of horror, remorse and shame” for the Excuse behavior of your son for which you have “no understanding”.

A few weeks later, Elyas T. sent a letter of apology to the police and city cleaning service. He had no idea what, besides the drunkenness, rode him back then. He has no grudges against the police. And certainly not against his hometown: “I love this city. Frankfurt has given me so much. ”In court, he goes a step further:“ I’m even a Eintracht fan! ”However, this does not mitigate the penalty.

That is also not necessary. In view of the appearance of the accused, his flawless past and his extraordinary behavior at night, even the prosecutor believes that he let himself be carried away in the heat of the night for no sense, reason or reason by the raging of the mob. At the end of the process, T. is convicted and warned according to youth law, he has to do 50 hours of community service and pay 500 euros to the Children’s Fund. In addition, the judge gives him a special condition: he has to read a book within four weeks in which a policewoman, who like T. also has a so-called migration background, talks about her everyday work in Germany. In order to prove the reading, he has to provide the trainee lawyer with a brief summary of the contents. But T. had already declared in advance: “I deeply regret my serious stupidity and will accept any punishment I get.”

This case was just the premiere. Six more Opernplatz trials against men between the ages of 18 and 31 are expected to follow. That’s all that’s left of the initial 27 preliminary investigations. The public prosecutor’s office had to hand over eleven of them to foreign authorities because the accused are being tried in their hometowns under youth criminal law. And unlike Elyas T., many of the rioters are neither from Frankfurt nor do they love this city.

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