Overview
- The confrontation began during a debate over Israel and Palestine and escalated on Friday, September 25, when an unnamed woman delivered a slap to FDP councillor Jörg Hoffmann in the Stadtrats-Ratsboxe on the Schottenhamel tent balcony.
- Security removed the young Left-affiliated guests before three women returned and confronted Hoffmann, who reported the incident to the tent office.
- Mayor Dominik Krause has officially withdrawn Die Linke’s Ratsboxe table for the remainder of Oktoberfest and framed the step as a rejection of physical political violence.
- Left faction leader Stefan Jagel apologized to Hoffmann, said the woman was a friend of a member not a party official, and announced internal sanctions that bar those involved from using the faction’s table.
- Hoffmann declined to press criminal charges but will raise the matter in the city council’s Ältestenrat and media reports note unconfirmed claims that alcohol may have played a role.