German Police Free Three Suspects in Fatal Hostel Fire
LUBECK, Germany — Police on Friday freed three suspects in a fatal fire at a hostel for foreign asylum-seekers, saying they had no strong evidence on which to hold them and that the three had an alibi.
Neo-Nazis are suspected of setting the fire that raced through the hostel in this northern port city Thursday, killing six children and four adults. But police and government officials say an electrical fire has not been ruled out.
West German Radio said at least four occupants of the hostel, occupied by refugees from Zaire, Togo, Syria and Lebanon and ethnic German immigrants from Poland, were fighting for their lives. More than 50 people were hurt in the blaze, and police said about 30 were still hospitalized.
If the fire was an arson attack, it would be Germany’s deadliest assault on foreigners since World War II.
The three suspects released Friday had criminal records, but not for right-wing violence, said Klaus Klingner, the Schleswig-Holstein state justice minister.
Attacks on immigrants soared after unification in 1990 and peaked in 1993, dropping off since. German authorities have arrested hundreds of neo-Nazis, banned several groups and infiltrated the movement.
Germany also changed its asylum law to sharply reduce the number of foreigners admitted.
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