Trace of beating attacks in Budapest leads to left-wing extremist group around Lina E.

The attackers come from behind. They quicken their pace on the last meter. Then the first man, apparently a young man, hits his victim with a long object. Again and again until the man falls.

Kicks and punches by at least five people follow. After a good twenty seconds, the robbery is over. The group runs away from their victim, who is left bleeding on the sidewalk.

The scene was recorded over the weekend by a surveillance camera in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. The crime, local investigators believe, was part of a series of left-wing extremist violence that left eight people dead over the weekend, three of whom were seriously injured. The perpetrators beat their victims with hammers. The victims apparently had in common that they wore military-style clothing.

The investigations also focus on German left-wing radicals.

According to information from WELT, a total of five German citizens, two men and three women, are suspected of having been involved in the riots. What is particularly striking is the alleged involvement of a man who state and constitutional protection officers have already located in the front row of militant German left-wing extremists: Tobias E., 29 years old, born between Siegaue and Bergisches Land, living in Berlin.

E. was arrested by the Hungarian police, as was a 26-year-old woman from Hildesheim.

What is particularly special about Tobias E. is his direct connection to the alleged criminal left-wing extremist group led by Lina E. A trial has been going on in Dresden for months against Germany's currently best-known left-wing extremist. The 27-year-old and others accused by the federal prosecutor are said to have spied on political opponents - including well-known neo-Nazis - and brutally beat them up. They also used striking tools. In view of the seriousness of the crimes, state security officials saw the "threshold to terrorism" reached. The procedure of the alleged robberies is similar to the attack in Budapest.

Tobias E. is one of the investigators in the extended network of the group around Lina E. A key witness who testified against the alleged criminal organization in the Dresden trial also confirmed the connection. At the beginning, the federal prosecutor also listed Tobias E. as a suspect in the proceedings, but so far they have not brought charges against him. However, investigations are still underway in Germany against Tobias E. in connection with several brutal attacks on individuals.

On a night in December 2019, Tobias E. is said to have been present at a violent act by the group around Lina E. In Eisenach, Thuringia, several attackers ambushed the pub owner Leon R., who is well-known in the right-wing scene, and maltreated him with sticks and pepper spray. The attackers fled in two cars. The vehicle in which Lina E. was sitting was stopped by police officers in Eisenach. A Skoda, in which Tobias E. was sitting, among other things, made a chase on the A4 motorway in the direction of Frankfurt. The vehicle finally came to a standstill in the Hessian town of Wommen. Several inmates, including Tobias E., fled on foot. At dawn he was picked up by the police on federal highway 400 in dirty clothes.

Tobias E. and the other suspects, the youngest of them 21 years old, had traveled to Budapest to demonstrate against the "Day of Honor" traditionally celebrated by neo-Nazis. Between February 10 and 12, the far-right commemorated the Red Army's siege of Budapest, which was occupied by Nazi Germany and its allies. The organizers include the neo-Nazi network Blood and Honor, which is banned in Germany. The association democ observed participants in SS uniforms, Hitler salutes and attacks on journalists at the right-wing marches.

It is still unclear whether the passers-by attacked by the alleged left-wing extremists also belong to the right-wing scene. The police presented footage of weapons confiscated from the suspected left-wing extremists on the Internet. Including a telescopic baton, a rubber mallet and quartz gloves.

The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is in contact with the Hungarian authorities about the attacks in Budapest. One could not comment on the ongoing investigation, a spokesman said when asked by WELT.