The department for clan crimes of the criminal police in the western German city of Essen is investigating a brutal attack on an 18-year-old, which allegedly happened in early June. According to Kieler Nachrichten, the probe is into the Arab-Lebanese community in Eassen.
Senior attorney Anette Milk has confirmed to the German Editorial Network that they are investigating perpetrators, whose names are already known to police, and revealed that the case concerns robbery and dangerous assault. She also noted that the suspects are said to be clan members.
The investigators are probing a video of the beatdown, captured on a smartphone camera and leaked to the media.
The assault is linked to a dispute between two large Arab families, the German outlet Bild reports. The attack played out on 4 June in Essen-Altendorf in a schoolyard, as a nearly three-minute mobile phone video, suggests. On it, about 10 young men are seen hunting the boy down, brutally kicking the 18-year-old and hitting him on the head and upper body. While the victim is trying to hide in the bushes nearby, the attackers pull him back again and again, Bild reports.
According to outlet, the young man’s relationship with a girl from the other family led to the violent outcome. The girl he texted via WhatsApp, had reportedly been a decoy.