About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2020)
10A Friday, February 21,2020 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com WORLD German gunman calling for genocide kills 9 people MARTIN MEISSNER I Associated Press A man places flowers near a hookah bar where several people were killed on Wednesday night in Hanau, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 20. BY DAVID MCHUGH, DAVID RISING AND FRANK JORDANS Associated Press HANAU — A German who shot and killed nine people of foreign background in a rampage that began at a hookah bar frequented by immigrants had posted an online rant calling for the “com plete extermination” of many “races or cultures in our midst,” authorities said Thursday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack exposed the “poison” of racism in the country. The gunman, Tobias Rathjen, 43, was found dead at his home along with his mother, and authori ties said they were treating the rampage as an act of domestic terrorism. Turks, ethnic Kurds and people with backgrounds from Bulgaria, Bosnia and Romania were among those killed, according to news reports. Turkey’s ambassador said five of the dead were Turkish citizens. People of Turkish back ground make up Germany’s single largest minority. Rathjen opened fire at the hoo kah bar and a neighboring cafe in the Frankfurt suburb of Hanau around 10 p.m. Wednesday, kill ing several people, then traveled about 1.5 miles and fired on a car and a sports bar, claiming more victims. In addition to the dead, six people were injured, one seriously, authorities said. Hookah lounges are places where people gather to smoke fla vored tobacco from Middle East ern water pipes. Metin Kan, who knew many of the victims, said it was obvious why the gunman chose the neighborhood. “Look, a hookah bar there, a gaming parlor there, a doner kebab place there — it’s a place frequented by immigrants,” he said. “Why this hatred of foreign ers? We all get along here.” Kadir Kose, who runs a cafe nearby, said he was shocked at the extent of the violence: “This is a whole other level, something we hear about from America.” The bloodshed came amid grow ing concerns about far-right vio lence in Germany and stepped-up efforts to crack down on it, includ ing last week’s detention of a dozen men on suspicion they were plan ning attacks against politicians and minorities. “This poison exists in our society and its is responsible for far too many crimes,” Merkel said, citing the killings of 10 people across the country between 2000 and 2007 by a far-right gang, the fatal shoot ing last year of a regional politi cian from her party, and a deadly attack outside a synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur in October. She pledged to stand up against those who seek to divide the country. “There is much to indicate that the perpetrator acted out of far- right extremist, racist motives,” she said. “Out of hatred for people with other origins, other faiths or a different appearance. ” While investigators said it appeared the gunman acted alone, Germany’s federal prosecutor, Peter Frank, said authorities are trying to find out whether there were others who knew of or sup ported the attack. He added that his office is looking into any con tacts the killer may have had inside Germany or abroad. Peter Beuth, interior minister for the state of Hesse, said it does not appear Rathjen had a crimi nal record or was on the radar of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. Witnesses and surveillance video of the getaway car led authorities quickly to the gunman’s home, where he and his 72-year-old mother were found dead with gun shot wounds, apparently bringing the number of victims killed to 10. Frank identified the gunman only as Tobias R., in line with Ger man privacy laws, and confirmed he had posted extremist videos and a screed with “confused ideas and far-fetched conspiracy theories” on his website, which has since been taken down. He identified himself on the website as Tobias Rathjen. “We now have ethnic groups, races or cultures in our midst that are destructive in every respect,” Rathjen wrote in his rambling, 24-page screed on his website. He said he envisioned first a “rough cleaning” and then a “fine clean ing” that could halve the world’s population. “The following people must be completely exterminated,” he wrote, then went on to list two dozen countries, most of them Muslim. The deadly attack was quickly condemned by many organiza tions, including the Central Council of Muslims, the Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Germany, and the Central Council of Jews. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it a “heinous attack” and expressed confidence that German authorities “will exert all kinds of effort to shed light on all aspects of this attack.” In his rant, Rathjen also detailed fears that he had been under gov ernment surveillance for years and blamed the monitoring for his inability to have a relationship with a woman. He also claimed to have approached police several times with conspiracy theories. Separately, he sought help last year in finding out who was alleg edly observing him from a Aus trian man, Bernd Gloggnitzer, who teaches “remote viewing,” a practice that adherents claim gives them the ability to sense the unseen. “I didn’t reply because I could tell from the email that he was a nutcase,” Gloggnitzer told The Associated Press. He said Rathien forwarded to him a criminal com plaint that he had drawn up and sent to Germany’s federal prose cutors, and “it was one conspiracy theory after another.” Ukrainians hurl stones at evacuees from China BY DMYTR0 VLASOV AND YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press NOVI SANZHARY, Ukraine — Ukraine’s effort to quarantine more than 70 people evacuated from China over the new virus outbreak plunged into chaos Thursday as local residents opposing the move hurled stones at the evacuees and clashed with police. Officials deplored the violence and the country’s health minister pledged to share evacuees’ quaran tine for two weeks in a bid to reassure protesters who fear they’ll be infected. Buses carrying evacu ees were finally able to reach the designated place of quarantine after hours of clashes. The masked evacuees, exhausted by the long journey, were peek ing through bus windows as they drove slowly under a heavy police escort. Stones shattered a win dow in one of the buses, but the evacuees appeared unhurt. Since the early morning, several hundred residents of the village of Novi Sanzhary in Ukraine’s central Poltava region had cut the road to a sanitarium intended to host the evacuees, fearing they could become infected. Demonstrators, some of whom appeared drunk, put up road blocks, burned tires and clashed with riot police who moved to clear access. One protester tried to ram police lines with his car. Nine police officers and one civilian were hospital ized, the regional police said in a statement. Ukrainian police said 24 protesters were detained. Interior Minister Arsen Ava kov, who personally visited the site to try to calm the crowd, said he was shocked by the aggression. “What we saw was shame ful,” he said in televised remarks. “It was one of the biggest disappointments in my life.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy weighed in, saying the pro tests showed “not the best side of our character.” He tried to reassure people that the quarantined evacuees wouldn’t pose any danger to local residents. In a statement published on his Facebook page, Zelenskiy said the people evacuated from China are healthy and will live in a closed medical center run by the National Guard in the village as a precaution. “In the next two weeks it will probably be the most guarded facility in the coun try,” Zelenskiy said. Ukraine’s health minis ter, Zoryana Skaletska, said she would join the evacuees in quarantine for two weeks to help assuage villagers’ concerns. She urged resi dents to show sympathy and support for the evacuees and emphasized that the quarantine facility is in full conformity with interna tional standards. “I was shocked by the panic, rejection, negative feelings and aggression,” she said. “It was even a greater shock for the people who were evacuated from China.” But municipal legisla tors in the village vowed to continue opposing the evacuation, saying that the sanitarium’s sewage system is linked to the one in the vil lage and ends up in a nearby wastewater facility. “We can’t allow put ting the health and life of local residents at risk, and demand that top officials take urgent moves to pre vent people from China from being put here,” they said in a statement. TAX REFUND TIME! 2019 Honda FIT LX Hatchback Stock #36963 • 36 month lease $200 PER MONTH $200 DUE AT SIGNING No security deposit required. 150 per mile over 36,000 miles, plus tax. With approved credit. Not every customer will qualify. See dealer for details. 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