German police are investigating a widespread vandalism spree in the city of Hanau, near Frankfurt, where about 50 vehicles, as well as walls and postboxes, were smeared with a reddish liquid that preliminary tests suggest is human blood.
The vandalism, which occurred late on Wednesday, included the illegal display of swastikas, a banned Nazi symbol in Germany.
Police were alerted late on Wednesday night after a man in the Lamboy district noticed a car smeared with the reddish liquid, which had been applied in the shape of a swastika, authorities said in a statement. Officers subsequently found many other defaced vehicles and house walls in the surrounding area.
While tests indicate the substance is likely human blood, police said they had no information on its source and were not aware of any injuries linked to the incident.
Local authorities have appealed to the public for information as they work “to solve the mystery.”
The incident has caused outrage in Hanau, a city still grappling with the trauma of a 2020 far-right terrorist attack in which a gunman targeted people of immigrant origin, killing nine people.
Omid Nouripour, Vice President of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, expressed shock over the attack.
“This act strikes at the very heart of Hanau and reopens the wounds of the far-right terrorist attack five years ago,” Nouripour wrote on X, calling for the crime to be solved quickly.
(Pictures: AP Photo/Michael Probst)
