Overview
- State security is investigating suspected arson that destroyed Baumann’s BMW outside his Hamburg residence early Monday, with multiple vehicles burning in Othmarschen.
- A post on the left-wing platform Indymedia claimed responsibility and threatened to kill Baumann, but the authenticity of the message has not been verified.
- Baumann and his wife report fear and describe only intermittent police protection following earlier incidents they say targeted their address.
- He says Union, SPD and Greens conveyed private condolences while The Left did not, and he urges prosecutors to intensify action against left-wing extremists he associates with Rote Flora.
- Hesse’s Interior Minister Roman Poseck condemned the attack, raised the prospect of banning Antifa, and said police plan a robust presence for the AfD youth group’s meeting in Gießen later this month.