Arson Attack on German Newspaper That Printed Charlie Hebdo Cartoons
Adam Withnall, Independent, January 11, 2015
Arsonists have firebombed the offices of a German newspaper which printed cartoons from the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, police in Hamburg said.
The Hamburger Morgenpost had, like many German media outlets, published images from the satirical weekly in the aftermath of a terror attack that saw 10 of its journalists killed on Wednesday.
Police said rocks were thrown through the cellar windows of the building in the early hours of Sunday morning, followed by an “incendiary device”.
The fire was put out “quickly”, police said, and while two rooms were damaged and some files were burned, no one was injured in the incident.
In an article on its website on Sunday, the newspaper said it was “too soon” to determine whether there was a link between the arson attempt and the attacks in Paris on Wednesday.
“Thick smoke is still hanging in the air, the police are looking for clues,” it said.
Two people have been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack after they were seen behaving in “an unusual manner” near the scene of the crime, according to a spokesperson for Hamburg police.
The incident came after a meeting in Hamburg on Saturday of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).
Speaking in the city, the German Chancellor said: “We have made clear that the events in France, this barbaric terrorist act, are a challenge for all of us, for the values that we advocate, to fight for them.”
She called on people to be clear on the differences between Islam and religious fanaticism, and said that she would be joining world leaders in taking part in a silent march in Paris on Sunday.
