Dresden. Abdullah H. has to appear in court again on Friday. The Syrian has been tried since this week. Murder, attempted murder and assault are the allegations against the 21-year-old. Prosecutor Marco Mayer said on the first day of the trial that he stabbed the injured party out of insidiousness and low motives, whom he perceived as homosexual. One of his victims died, the second survived seriously injured.
The act on October 4, 2020 behind the Dresden Kulturpalast must never be forgotten, demands the Dresden Christopher Street Day Association (CSD eV). His name is a reminder of the first known uprising of homosexuals against police arbitrariness in New York’s Christopher Street in 1969. In November, a few weeks after the attack, Ronald Zenker, the association’s board spokesman, publicly called for a memorial site. The bereaved should also be included in the considerations.
The bereaved do not want to take part in the commemoration
But they don’t want to, it is said from Krefeld, the place where Thomas L. lived. The 55-year-old died in the attack. His partner Oliver L. is to be heard as a witness in court on Friday. He will probably not come to Dresden, the interrogation should take place via video switch.
Ronald Zenker heard about it and he can understand it. The memory is still too fresh, the CSD spokesman explains the fact that Oliver L. does not want to come to the place where his partner died. Zenker can also understand that the 53-year-old and all other relatives of the victim do not want to participate in the considerations about a place to commemorate the bloody act.
Therefore, the preparations for it are not stopped. Now it should be a “general memorial against homophobia,” says Zenker. The location is no longer fixed either. It was originally intended to be a memorial at the crime scene. In the town hall, which supports the project after a push by the CSD eV, work will continue, said the association spokesman. In addition, two city council factions, including the FDP, had made such a memorial on the subject of a city council motion.
The memorial is to be erected in October
Zenker is also sticking to the original schedule. Accordingly, such a memorial should be erected or inaugurated on October 4, 2021. This is the first anniversary of the attack against the couple from North Rhine-Westphalia. So the memorial would not “just” be a general one against homophobia. Likewise, one who recalls the bloodshed in October 2020, in which two people were attacked.
