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Iraqi refugee shot dead by German police
Iraqi refugee shot dead by German police
Police opened fire on a 29-year-old after he lunged at a Pakistani man with a knife, having accused him of sexually abusing his daughter.
2 min read
The police union said officers had to prevent an act of "vigilante justice" [Getty]
An Iraqi refugee has been shot dead by German police after threatening a Pakistani man he suspected of sexually abusing his daughter with a knife.
The 29-year-old died in hospital after being hit by several police bullets at an asylum seekers' shelter in Berlin.
"The officers had to prevent an act of vigilante justice and a situation that was life-threatening for them," the police union's Berlin chief Bodo Pfalzgraf said.
Police were called late on Tuesday to the shelter in the Moabit district after the 27-year-old Pakistani man allegedly sexually abused an eight-year-old girl in a nearby park, German newspaper BZ reported.
When police detained the suspect and led him away in handcuffs, the girl's father charged at him with a knife, yelling, "you won't survive this", according to witnesses.
Police opened fire and the man died a few hours later in hospital.
The alleged sex attacker was uninjured, and the Iraqi man's daughter and her mother are undergoing counselling, police said on Wednesday.
An internal police enquiry has been launched - a routine step after a fatal police shooting.
In warning against condemning the officers involved, Pfalzgraft reiterated a union demand to equip them with electric stun guns.
"Police don't want to kill but are forced to if the government doesn't give them other operational means," he said.
Germany last year took in one million refugees - around half of them from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - housing them in hostels, sports gyms, army barracks and other facilities around the country.
Earlier this month, a curfew was set to be imposed on refugees in Bautzen in east Germany after a fight between a group of around 80 far-right activists clashed with a group of 20 refugees.
The country's interior minister has warned against anti-migrant sentiment in the wake of terrorist attacks in July.
The killing in Germany comes as Greek police said they had arrested four Pakistani men for allegedly raping a 16-year-old refugee.
The 29-year-old died in hospital after being hit by several police bullets at an asylum seekers' shelter in Berlin.
"The officers had to prevent an act of vigilante justice and a situation that was life-threatening for them," the police union's Berlin chief Bodo Pfalzgraf said.
Police were called late on Tuesday to the shelter in the Moabit district after the 27-year-old Pakistani man allegedly sexually abused an eight-year-old girl in a nearby park, German newspaper BZ reported.
When police detained the suspect and led him away in handcuffs, the girl's father charged at him with a knife, yelling, "you won't survive this", according to witnesses.
Police opened fire and the man died a few hours later in hospital.
The alleged sex attacker was uninjured, and the Iraqi man's daughter and her mother are undergoing counselling, police said on Wednesday.
An internal police enquiry has been launched - a routine step after a fatal police shooting.
In warning against condemning the officers involved, Pfalzgraft reiterated a union demand to equip them with electric stun guns.
"Police don't want to kill but are forced to if the government doesn't give them other operational means," he said.
Germany last year took in one million refugees - around half of them from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - housing them in hostels, sports gyms, army barracks and other facilities around the country.
Earlier this month, a curfew was set to be imposed on refugees in Bautzen in east Germany after a fight between a group of around 80 far-right activists clashed with a group of 20 refugees.
The country's interior minister has warned against anti-migrant sentiment in the wake of terrorist attacks in July.
The killing in Germany comes as Greek police said they had arrested four Pakistani men for allegedly raping a 16-year-old refugee.
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