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A Berlin district politician is said to have racially insulted, threatened and eventually attacked a bar employee in Kreuzberg. According to information from Tagesspiegel, this is the CDU decree Harald Sielaff, who is a member of the District Assembly (BVV) and until now chairman of the committee for citizen services and regulatory affairs in Tempelhof-Schöneberg.
The employee of the “Asia Food & Sushi Bar” in Mehringdamm, who was the target of the attack, immediately recognized the 55-year-old in a photo presented to him by the Tagesspiegel on Monday. BVV circles also confirmed the staff. Sielaff did not initially respond to a request from the Tagesspiegel to call back.
In the early afternoon, Sielaff regretted the incident and blamed alcohol consumption for his behavior. In a personal statement, he also announced his immediate resignation as committee chair: “I would like to comment on yesterday’s events as follows: I am convinced that racist remarks and abusive harassment have no place in our city. In my 55 years, I have always advocated for a democratic relationship with all people. Personally, I am sorry for the alcoholic events yesterday and also personally apologized to the takeout operator for the inconvenience. I resolutely reject the use of violence and racist statements on my part, “Sielaff writes.
And furthermore: “I will actively support the legal process of this matter. Since I can no longer act without doubts about my work as chair of the citizen services and regulatory affairs committee and I do not want to be a burden on the committee, I will resign as chair of the committee. effective immediately. “
The incident took place on Sunday afternoon around 4:30 p.m., police reported Monday. As the 41-year-old employee told Tagesspiegel, the CDU politician had ordered and was about to get his food when he suddenly launched a barrage of insults. Among other things, Sielaff is said to have shouted that the “Chinese” are not welcome in the “Federal Republic of Germany”. “You live in a dictatorship, why are you here now?”
In addition, he is said to have asked the bar clerk, a Vietnamese, to show him residence and company documents, police said. When the man refused, the attacker allegedly took a plastic bottle from the counter and threw it inside; the lid came off and the sweet and sour sauce hit the victim’s face and clothes.
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A witness immediately alerted the police and filed a complaint. Police searched the 55-year-old man. He said that he had drunk alcohol and handed the identification card to the district assembly. The police let him go a little later, the investigation is now for insults and material damage.
Sielaff soccer club trusted a Chinese billionaire
Sielaff did not always intimidate the Chinese. In the past, he was also the second president of the Viktoria Berlin football club, which in 2018 wanted to move from the regional league to professional football with the help of a Hong Kong billionaire, but had to file for bankruptcy after only a few months. In the course of this, Sielaff resigned from the Presidium. Viktoria is now on top again, and the association is also campaigning against racism in various ways.
In Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Sielaff remains the spokesperson for school and youth policy for the CDU parliamentary group. He will address the incident at his Monday night meeting and speak with his presidential officer. Before that, no comment is wanted, said the leader of the parliamentary group Daniel Dittmar. In general, however, it is clear that they disapprove of racist statements and the mob.
Stefan Evers, general secretary of the state party, explained: “There is no place for racism in the Berlin CDU. Mobbing against fellow citizens is also prohibited, regardless of the reason. Alcohol is definitely not an excuse for that. “
The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg SPD, on the other hand, was not satisfied with Sielaff’s statement that resigning as committee chairman could “only be the first step,” according to a statement. The district Social Democrats are calling for Sielaff to resign from all political offices. “We are dismayed by this unforgivable attack. Anyone who insults, humiliates and attacks people because of their origin has lost their suitability as a local political representative.”
“I have not yet experienced such an attack,” the victim said Monday. The uncertainty after the attack was also evident in his boss: he hoped that he would not be blamed for this incident.
