A 24-year-old man was assaulted in Berlin’s Wedding district late Monday night after telling a group of men that he was a Christian, police confirmed on Tuesday.
The state security division of the Berlin police is now handling the investigation, treating the attack as a religiously motivated hate crime.
According to the police report, passers-by found the victim collapsed on the roadway at the intersection of Müllerstraße and Seestraße around 10:45 p.m.
Emergency services were called to the scene and transported the man to hospital for treatment of a facial injury, which was later handled on an outpatient basis.
During questioning, the victim stated that he had been approached by five unknown men who asked about his religious affiliation. When he told them that he had been baptized Christian, the men allegedly responded by beating him. The suspects then fled the scene and remain at large.
A police spokesperson said, “The 24-year-old later stated that he had been asked by five unknown persons about his religious affiliation. After he replied that he had been baptized as a Christian, the unknown persons are said to have hit him several times on the head.”
The case has now been handed over to the State Security Police of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office due to the suspected anti-Christian motive behind the attack.
No arrests have been made so far.
Wedding is a diverse district in the borough of Mitte, described by the Berlin tourist board as a “cultural melting pot.” A former working-class hub, the locality is now dominated by foreigners — 55.4 percent of residents have a migration background, with Turks, North Africans, and Arabs comprising the largest share.
The district made headlines in 2023 when 110 seniors were evicted from a nursing home by a Christian organization to make room for asylum seekers.
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