Dhe number of attacks on the queer community may be far greater than known. As the Frankfurt police chief Stefan Müller announced on Monday in the security committee of the city council, he assumes that 90 percent are unreported. He said that based on past experience, only assault offenses are reported, “because a threshold of violence has clearly been crossed. On the other hand, insults or jostling are not reported, but they must also be prosecuted.”
Müller pointed out that it is important to report such incidents. “Preferably immediately after the crime.” Getting a list of assaults that happened a month ago “makes orderly prosecution more difficult.”
Homophobic attacks are hate crimes
According to plans by the police headquarters, the Frankfurt police will continue to deal with the topic of “homophobic attacks” in the form of training courses. In the meantime, according to Müller, criminal offenses directed against members of the queer community are only dealt with by state security. These offenses are classified as hate crimes.
The number of cases alone increased with seven dangerous bodily injuries compared to the previous year. Most of the crimes were committed early in the morning by a “mixed circle of perpetrators”. The suspects included both women and men between the ages of 20 and 60. Many of the perpetrators did not come from Frankfurt, but from the surrounding area. Müller did not comment on the nationalities of the suspects. He said “the nationalities are without particular pattern”. The data situation is still too sparse to draw any conclusions from this.
