Clan member in court: Brutal attack on police officer shocks Berlin!

Clan member in court: Brutal attack on police officer shocks Berlin!

A 21-year-old member of the Remmo clan is being tried in the Tiergarten district court in Berlin today. He is at the center of an incident that occurred on New Year's Eve 2023/2024, when there was a violent attack on a police officer. During the event, a 15-year-old relative of the defendant was hit by a police car that was driving with a siren and flashing lights during an operation. The teenager “suddenly entered the road” and then had to be taken to the hospital, as rbb24 reports.

After the accident, the defendant is said to have opened the police car door and punched the officer several times in the face. The charges include assault on law enforcement officers, bodily harm and resistance. Only with the intervention of several police officers could something worse be prevented, and the defendant initially fled the scene, but was later identified. Traces of the man's DNA were found on the policewoman's protective vest. However, he has so far remained silent about the allegations. A first trial attempt in February 2025 failed due to his illness, as Tagesspiegel added.

Clan crime in focus

The incident is part of a larger discussion about clan crime in Germany, which is often classified as “family-based crime” and is associated with ethnically insular subcultures. This form of crime is characterized by a close network of related people who are active in different countries and are under pressure to join criminal activities, explains Mahmoud Jaraba, who has been working with Arab, Turkish and Kurdish extended families since 2015. Although many members of these clans do not want crime, they often find themselves in an unfortunate situation, as [DW](https://www.dw.com/de/clan-Krimit%C3%A4t-wie-gef%C3%A4hrlich-ist-sie- aktuell/a-69473499) explains.

The police are aware of the challenges. Regular personal and business checks as well as raids on shisha bars and barber shops are carried out. This approach is called the “policy of 1000 needle pricks”. Statistically speaking, the proportion of crimes allegedly committed by clans in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony is between 0.17 and 0.76 percent of all crimes. The measures are partly based on the population's “subjective sense of security”. However, critics such as criminologist Daniela Hunold express concerns that the strategies used by politicians and the police could be legally problematic and ineffective, which does not make the fight against clan crime any easier.

Today's trial is eagerly awaited, both due to the explosiveness of the charge and in the context of the ongoing debate about clan crime in Germany. The case is another example of how criminal structures affect society and how the justice system deals with such challenges.