Issuance of German residency permits under probe as police dig into anti-semitic insults and threats

It is the case that indications have been submitted to the head of the local authority to the effect that irregularities have occurred in the context of the work of the department dealing with foreigners

 

Admin I Sunday, November 10, 2024

 

FRANKFURT – A German community near the city of Frankfurt is investigating at least 30 cases in which residence documents were issued to foreigners under dubious circumstances.

“It is the case that indications have been submitted to the head of the local authority to the effect that irregularities have occurred in the context of the work of the department dealing with foreigners,” a spokesman for the town of Bad Homburg said on Sunday, in response to a query.

The indications were being investigated in cooperation with an independent legal practice specializing in compliance with the regulations, he said.

An earlier media report said that 30 cases were dubious. It referred in part to residence documents being issued to people with a criminal record.

According to the local authority, the investigations have not yet been completed. The spokesman said that appropriate measures had been taken and the required disciplinary steps initiated.

Meanwhile, a security unit is investigating allegations of anti-Semitic insults and threats made against a Jewish youth team in Berlin during the week, police in the German capital reported on Sunday.

The security unit is called in for crimes of a political or extremist nature. The allegations concern a match on Thursday between a youth team of TuS Makkabi Berlin at DJK Schwarz-Weiß Neukölln in the south-east of the German capital.

According to the Berlin police report, “a group of unidentified persons insulted the players of a team and uttered anti-Semitic statements.”

There had also been physical conflict, it said, “in which the unidentified group of persons is reported to have been armed with sticks and knives.”

The incident had not been reported, the police report said. Berlin Interior Senator Iris Spranger has called for firm action to be taken.

According to a report in Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper, a Schwarz-Weiß Neukölln representative said that the attacks had come from spectators and that the club was assisting in clearing up the circumstances.

All games played by teams of the Makkabi club over the weekend received police protection, dpa learned. The away game played by its first team passed off without incident.

The Neukölln clashes occurred on the same day that pro-Palestinian hooligans clashed with supporters of Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam in an incident that has caused international outrage. Over recent months, Neukölln, a district of Berlin with a comparatively large immigrant population, has seen clashes between police and pro-Palestinian protesters.