Rioters “behead” Teddy at the Augustusmarkt in Dresden

Rioters “behead” Teddy at the Augustusmarkt in Dresden

The four meter high purple teddy has been the striking entrance to the Augustusmarkt on the main street since last year. It was violently damaged on Sunday night.

Dresden. Two obviously drunk men ignore the barrier in front of the purple bear at Augustusmarkt, climb onto the podium and rock the glitter teddy so hard that its head falls off.

The operators of the Augustusmarkt are furious because it’s not the first attack on the teddy bear – but it’s the most brutal. They have video footage and are looking for witnesses.

Matteo Böhme purchased the teddy for the Augustusmarkt for around 20,000 euros. There were already attacks on the glittering bear last year. Before the Augustusmarkt opened this year, the teddy had to go to his home country, Poland, for repairs.

It has just been brought into shape for around 8,000 euros, is now on a pedestal and has its own video surveillance. Nevertheless, there was now the next attack.

It happened on Sunday night, around 11 p.m. A video shows that two men and two women spend a long time in the area around the bear. Suddenly the two men – apparently very drunk – climb onto the podium and shake the teddy bear. The entire structure begins to wobble, shaking the bear so hard that its head suddenly falls off and lands on the sidewalk.

The perpetrators flee. “Apparently a passerby called the police,” reports Böhme, because the officers were already on site when the alarmed operator arrived at the scene. The officers have already put the head back on the body, but the lights no longer work.

“It is not yet clear how extensive the damage is,” says Böhme. Perhaps a specialist from Poland might even have to be called to the market to repair the teddy bear. “This vandalism is unbearable,” says Böhme. He hopes that the police can find the perpetrators and that witnesses who saw something will contact the police.

On a specially erected sign on the mauled large teddy on Sunday afternoon, the market team promised the beheaded man’s recovery as quickly as possible.