Several police cars went up in flames in front of a Munich hotel where police officers were staying for the G7 summit. Investigators suspect arson. Possible perpetrators are still being sought.
Shortly before the G7 summit in Bavaria, eight police cars burned out in Munich. The team buses of the federal riot police were all parked in front of a hotel in the early morning, in which the emergency services for the G7 summit were staying, as a spokesman for the Munich police said. Investigators suspected arson.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser only said on Monday that she saw no concrete threat to the summit. Franz Haslbeck from the protest alliance “Stop G7 Elmau” explicitly distanced himself from the suspected arson attack. He assumes that no organization from the alliance was involved. Haslbeck emphasized that “Stop G7 Elmau” stands for peaceful protest.
Shortly after the arson attack on the vehicles became known, the police used a helicopter, among other things, to search for possible perpetrators, but so far have been unsuccessful, the spokesman said. Investigators examined the completely burned-out police van. The officials estimated the damage in the six-digit range. Nobody got hurt.
It is not the first incident related to the meeting at Schloss Elmau, which begins on Sunday and for which the highest security precautions have already been taken. On Tuesday, some dangerous manipulations of power distribution boxes became known within the security area around the conference venue. Smearings were also spotted, such as “Move G7” and “No G7”. The police assumed that the crimes were politically motivated. In addition, secret police documents from the 2015 summit, which was also held at Schloss Elmau, had become public. Faeser reacted calmly and said that the publication had no influence on the current operational planning. However, she expects activities from the left-wing extremist side, but they are not excluded from the Corona protests or in connection with the war in Ukraine.
The G7 summit is planned from Sunday to Tuesday at Elmau Castle near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which has now been hermetically sealed off. There, under the direction of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the heads of state and government of the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada will meet.
