German police have decided not to charge a Pro-Palestinian protester who physically assaulted an elderly Jewish man holding an Israeli flag at a rally in Hanover in April 2022.
The Hanover public prosecutor’s office said through a spokesperson on Wednesday that an investigation found that “intentional bodily harm could not be proven” in the attack perpetrated by the “55-year-old stateless assailant,” Welt reported.
The April 23 attack took place during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in which Michael Höntsch, 68, a former state lawmaker for the SPD Party, was assaulted. Höntsch needs a cane and a mobile oxygen unit to walk.
Höntsch was part of a tiny counter protest put together by his daughter-in-law Rebecca Seidler.
Footage of the incident showed that Höntsch was accosted by a participant in the pro-Palestinian rally who was wearing a keffiyeh.
The assailant punched him in the face hard enough to knock him over.