Shards lie in front of the party office of the left, the interior is devastated: the background to the explosion in Oberhausen is still unclear, the police are investigating. The party is clear: It was an attack.
Oberhausen (dpa / lnw) – In an explosion in downtown Oberhausen on Tuesday night, the party office of the left and several shops were significantly damaged. The detonation happened at around 3.20 a.m. at Friedensplatz, said a police spokeswoman from Essen. Nobody was injured. Because a politically motivated act cannot be ruled out, state security is also involved in the investigation. The parliamentary group leader of the Left in Oberhausen, Yusuf Karacelik, told the German Press Agency: “It was clearly an attack on us.”
The police initially did not commit themselves in this way. Officials from Essen took over the direction of the investigation, the spokeswoman said. Numerous emergency services are currently still on site and securing the building. “What triggered the explosion is still unclear. We are investigating in all directions.” It is clear that the explosion took place inside a building. Whether explosives play a role is also still the subject of the investigation. Then explosives experts would also be called in.
In addition to the office of the Left Party at Friedensplatz 8, a hairdresser’s shop and a travel agency were also badly damaged by the explosion. Windows were shattered, some of the interior was destroyed. “The property damage is significant,” said the police spokeswoman.
The head of the North Rhine-Westphalia Left Party, Jules El-Khatib, called for a “complete investigation” into the explosion. Offices of the left were not affected by attacks for the first time, he told the dpa. The state government must also crack down on neo-Nazis, open arrest warrants against right-wing extremists must be executed, said El-Khatib.
His Oberhausen party friend Karacelik said he had no concrete suspicion who the perpetrators could be. There have always been threatening letters in the past, but he doesn’t see them in the direct context. Karacelik blamed the general heated mood in the city and society.
