Contradictions in society are increasing, aggression against other ways of life is growing, according to the analysis of Berlin's police chief. Developments are also reflected in more attacks on minorities. They see the numbers with "concussion".

Berlin Police President Barbara Slovak.

Photo:dpa

Berlin. The increase is abundantly clear: considerably more attacks against gay men, transgender and lesbian women in Berlin have been registered by the police this year. Until the end of September, 261 there were insults, threats and attacks, as police chief Barbara Slovakik said at a awards ceremony on Monday. In the previous period 2018 the police counted 184 assaults; this number was initially even lower and was updated several times.

At the event of the Alliance Against Homophobia at Potsdamer Platz, the Turkish Federation Berlin-Brandenburg received the award of respect for merit for the recognition of the gay-lesbian scene.

According to Slovakia, the police assume that there is a very large dark field in homosexual hostilities, so that many acts are never reported and known. She cited several reasons for the marked increase this year, which she noted "with shock".

There is an "increasing polarisation in society", which would lead to an "increase in hate crime" in many areas. At the same time, more victims of anti-homosexual attacks than before would go to the police and report. In the meantime, the police would also be more open and sensitive to the issue and would rather identify the reasons for some actions and collect statistics accordingly. The crime scenes were mostly in the districts of Mitte, Schoenberg, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Neukolln. So where the homosexual scene is particularly visible. According to other statistics, the vast majority of victims are gay men, followed by transgender and rare lesbian women.

Advocate General Margarete Koppers admitted that prosecution is difficult in these cases. 289 Advertisements were received from the prosecutor. But "convictions have been carried out only to a small extent." In 60 percent of the cases, suspects could have been identified. However, many proceedings had been discontinued because the evidence was not sufficient. In other cases, the perpetrators were unknown because insults were anonymous on the Internet.

In 51 cases there was an indictment or a request for a criminal warrant. Mostly the judges would have imposed fines. According to Koppers, four times there was a prison sentence or juvenile detention for robbery or bodily harm.

Jurg Steinert of the Lesbian and Gay Association complained that profanity at Berlin schools is often anti-gay.

The spokesman of the award-winning Turkish League, Safter Cinar, addressed the problem of anti-homosexual attitudes among Turks and other migrants." It must be admitted that there is even more need for information in our community than in majority society."Changing this would be a challenge. Because Turks often felt discriminated against, the capacity for self-criticism was not always strong. The Turkish Federation is constantly launching projects and brochures for the equal recognition of homosexuals.

The Berlin Anti-Violence Project Maneo also counts homo- or transgender attacks every year: 2018 was the number at 382.