German holidaymakers often overdo things on Mallorca. Now even police officers from Essen are being pilloried on the island. This is grist to the mill for opponents of mass tourism.
Palma/Essen – Police officers from Essen are said to have beaten a taxi driver on Mallorca so badly that he had to be hospitalized. A total of four Germans were provisionally arrested shortly after the attack on Tuesday night, according to police on the Spanish holiday island. The police headquarters in Essen are now checking whether the suspected holidaymakers are actually German officers. “We are aware of the incident,” said a spokesman for the German Press Agency. “There is a suspicion, but we cannot rule it out,” they said.
The German Press Agency learned from a reliable source that at least two of the accused are in fact police officers from Essen (North Rhine-Westphalia) who were on the island for private reasons. The “Rheinische Post” had previously reported that the reason for the attack on the 71-year-old Mallorcan was a missing cell phone, which the taxi driver did not have with him, contrary to the attackers’ allegations, according to the Spanish police. All four suspects are now back home.
Victim reports fear of death
“I thought they were going to kill me. I hardly understand how my body was able to survive the attack,” taxi driver José María P. was quoted as saying in the “Mallorca Zeitung”. The attackers claimed to be German police officers and even “showed him their ID cards,” said the 71-year-old, who is in hospital in Palma with a broken arm, two broken ribs, bloodshot eyes, other injuries and numerous bruises. The arrival of the police “saved his life.”
The “Mallorca Magazine” and other media on the island, as well as the Spanish state television station RTVE, also reported on the sensational case. The police on Mallorca have said they have begun investigations. These could have serious consequences for the Germans. The victim’s son reported on Spanish television that his father was in danger of going blind in one eye, among other things. The law in Spain provides for prison sentences of between three and six years for serious bodily harm.
It all started at Ballermann
According to the taxi driver who was attacked, three of the four accused men got into his taxi on Schinkenstraße, the main party mile on Ballermann, to be taken to their hotel in the middle of the island. “Two of them were completely drunk.” Another four men from the seven-person holiday group got into a colleague’s car.
According to police and the victim, the violent confrontation broke out at the destination. One of the Germans had lost his cell phone and suspected the taxi driver of stealing it. At first everything was fine, the taxi driver said. “They split the bill and gave me a good tip. I helped unload the two drunkards.” Afterwards, one of the passengers lost his cell phone.
“Three other people came out of the hotel. We turned the taxi upside down and looked for the cell phone.” Although nothing was found, he was still brutally beaten, complained José María to reporters in his hospital bed.
Media: another bribery attempt
When the police arrived at the country hotel in Petra, about 40 kilometers east of Palma, one of the Germans, according to media reports, offered the taxi driver and the police officers money to stop them from pressing charges. One of the Germans was arrested for this attempted bribery, and later his companions.
The Germans later found the allegedly stolen cell phone in a friend’s pocket, as the “Mallorca Zeitung” reported. According to the taxi driver’s son, the accused were released without bail or conditions after the hearing by the investigating judge because there was no risk of them fleeing, as they were police officers.
“I don’t want to see her lying on the beach anymore”
The taxi driver’s conclusion shows how much such events are damaging the image of Germans in particular and foreign tourists in general, not just on Mallorca but throughout Spain, in times of increasing protests against mass tourism: “I drove Germans around Mallorca for 40 years. I never had a problem with them. Not even during the night shifts on Playa de Palma,” he told the “Mallorca Zeitung”. “I’ve often been asked what I think of the Germans. I was always full of praise. Now I don’t even want to see them lying on the beach anymore.” dpa
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