At a press conference by Bavaria’s Health Minister Holetschek, a young man known to the police attacked journalists in the center of Munich and insulted them. After being sent off, the vaccination opponent comes back and becomes violent.
A reporter from Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) was attacked by an opponent of vaccination on the sidelines of a press conference on a campaign for corona vaccination in Munich. The reporter had filed a complaint for assault, a police spokesman said. The incident happened on Tuesday at a press conference held by Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek on a campaign for booster vaccinations in the middle of Marienplatz.
According to the information, during an open question and answer session, “a 23-year-old who was already known to the police” from Munich attacked journalists and insulted them “as traitors to the people and vaccination terrorists”. After being sent off, the man came back later, according to the police – and is said to have hit the 38-year-old journalist in the face. He was arrested, according to the police, he also insulted the officials – and was reported for bodily harm, disturbance of public peace, threats and insults.
According to BR, the man attacked the reporter with several punches on the head when the listener was interviewing. After employees of a security service had pushed the man back, the attacker ambushed the reporter on the way to the car and attacked him again with punches. He also verbally abused the 38-year-old and said: “I will destroy you all”.
BR director Katja Wildermuth condemned the attack on Wednesday. “Any attack on journalists is also an attack on press freedom.” BR editor-in-chief Christian Nitsche spoke of the most serious attack on a BR colleague to date. Reporters were verbally attacked again and again during the corona pandemic at demonstrations. “The current violent attack goes beyond this dimension,” said Nitsche.
Health Minister Holetschek called for the background to the attack to be clarified quickly. Every violent attack on journalists is also an attack on democracy, said Holetschek. “The media must be able to report freely without fear of intimidation.” Discussions are important in the debate about the right course of action in the corona pandemic. However, Holetschek emphasized that insults should be avoided. “But anyone who stirs up hatred on the Internet, for example, shares responsibility for acts of violence.”
The Bavarian Association of Journalists stated that journalists should be able to go about their work without fear, as there are a number of similar acts. “Frustration and anger at the political protagonists often leads to hostilities and even violent attacks on those who bring the news,” said BJV deputy chairman Wolfgang Grebenhof.