German politician compares New Year's Eve rioters with migrant backgrounds to monkeys

By Timo Kirez

BERLIN (AA) - A German politician is causing outrage with a racist video he published on social media.

Thomas Bäppler-Wolf, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from the state of Hesse who has been a councilor for the city of Frankfurt since July 2016, commented on riots that broke out on New Year's Eve in Berlin in an Instagram video that has since been deleted.

"What country do we actually live in?" Bäppler-Wolf said in the video.

He expressed outrage because people who "come here because they are fleeing, seeking protection behave in a way they wouldn't dare at home."

The politician described the youths who rioted, saying "90% of them are not highly German-speaking, educated people from North Rhine-Westphalia."

At the end of the video, Bäppler-Wolf even draws an indirect comparison with monkeys.

"Since New Year's Eve, we know that what we had there is the Beginning Link -- far ahead of the monkeys and without brains."

The New Year's Eve rioters are "criminals" and "belong locked away," the politician said.

Following a prison sentence, they should be put on a plane and "sent back to where they came from," he added.

However, Bäppler-Wolf deleted the video after a short time. In a subsequent post, he explained his motives, saying he refused to be applauded by “wrong guys” and resented being "mentioned in the same breath as right-wing populists."

On New Year's Eve, there were isolated outbreaks of violence in Germany, especially in the capital Berlin. After the attacks on police and rescue workers, a political debate developed about the cause of the violence.

Politicians from the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Alternative for Germany (AfD) parties in particular had constructed a connection between young people with immigrant backgrounds and the rioting.

As reported by public broadcaster ARD, the police had provisionally arrested 145 people in connection with the riots.

For the first time, the police also provided information on the origin of the alleged perpetrators. According to the report, they are of 18 different nationalities. Most of them -- 45 suspects -- were German. This was followed by 27 suspects of Afghan nationality and 21 Syrians.