Berlin police are investigating after an unknown perpetrator threw a hand grenade at a club in the Kreuzberg district on Tuesday morning. Two masked individuals reportedly broke the club’s front window before the explosion, then fled the scene. Authorities confirmed no one was injured.
Gang-related crime has been rising in the German capital for several months, with repeated incidents involving firearms and violent assaults. Berlin police have deployed a special explosives commissioner and the “Special Development Organization Ferrum,” a unit focused on violent groups and gun-related crimes, to investigate the incident. Experts warn that African, Chechen, and Arab gangs are engaged in a de facto gang war, endangering passers-by in public spaces.
Recently released data also reveals a sharp increase in sexual offenses in the German capital. According to the official response to a parliamentary inquiry from the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), 885 individuals were identified as rape suspects in 2024, a 57% increase from 2019. Foreign nationals accounted for 38.28% of suspects, despite making up 24.9% of Berlin’s population. Gang rapes rose from 93 cases in 2019 to 123 last year, while broader sexual offenses increased from 2,852 incidents in 2015 to 7,475 in 2024.
