Man Screams "Allahu Akbar!" at Croatian Easter Vigil Mass in Munich - 24 Injured in Panic

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A "dark-skinned" man or "person of African descent" screamed "Allah Akbar" at a Croatian Easter Vigil Mass at St. Paul's Church in Munich on Saturday evening. He attempted to make his way to the altar before being apprehended. At least twenty-four people were lightly injured in the ensuing confusion and panic.

St. Paul's Church is one of the larger churches in the city.

One German source claims the man hurled firecrackers:

Strongly drunken man, dark-skinned and with a beard, enters St. Paul's Church in Munich at the Theresienwiese during the Croatian Mass (Easter blessing), with a bottle of alcohol in his hand, lights a firecracker and throws it into the middle of the church and shouts "Allahu Akbar", everyone panics and throws the baskets where the Easter meal was in, runs out and screams. Children and adults were injured. The police and their squad came and arrested the man. They are shocking pictures that must be spread and not hidden. There were some injured. Many children in a state of shock. Merkur Online reports that 24 people were injured (from PolitikStube, translated by Allah's Willing Executioners, h/t Jihad Watch). 

However a Croatia news outlet reports that the man merely threw "stones". The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs also claimed that the man was mentally-ill.

ZAGREB, April 21, 2019 - The person of African descent who disrupted Mass in St Peter's Church in the Croatian Catholic parish in Munich on Saturday evening by shouting "Allahu Akbar" and throwing stones, is mentally ill and not connected with terrorism, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said on Sunday. 

The man was shouting and throwing stones at the congregation and around the church, and the people fled in panic. Twenty-five Croatian nationals were slightly injured in the confusion, the ministry told Hina, adding that police said that the man did not use firecrackers as some media reported. 

Croatian media at home and abroad said that it was a middle-aged man who was shouting "Allahu Akbar", which led many of the believers to think that it was a terrorist attack. 

Fenix magazine, the Croatian-language news website based in Frankfurt, said that several people had managed to overpower the man and stop him on his way to the altar before the police came in force. 

The Croatian ministry quoted the Munich police as saying that the incident had nothing to do with terrorism and that it was caused by a mentally ill person, who has been hospitalised after being arrested. 

Police stepped up security around the churches where Mass was celebrated in Croatian, notably around St Michael's Church.

Hamburg Airport Evacuated After "Pepper Spray" Spreads Through Air-Conditioning System - 68 Treated, 9 Hospitalized

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The Hamburg Airport was completely evacuated this morning as passengers and staff were exposed to toxic fumes. 68 people were treated and 9 people were hospitalized. Thousands of stranded travelers were forced to stand outside for two hours in sub-freezing temperatures.

German media has reported that a small pepper spray cartridge was discovered in a trash bin in the boarding area. A police spokesman quickly stated that there was no evidence of terrorism. However, the fire department stated that the air-conditioning system was likely used to spread the gas:

Werner Nölken, spokesman for the Hamburg fire department said, “We are not assuming a terrorist attack.” The current assumption, he said, is that “some clown, for whatever reason” released pepper spray into an air-conditioning vent, causing the substance to spread. 

The cartridge found in the bin was only the size of a lipstick, he said, so it wouldn’t have been possible to injure so many people without the air-conditioning system diffusing the gas.

Other officials, while conforming that the toxic agent was pepper spray spread through the air-conditioning system appear to be neutral as to whether the incident was purposeful.

It's unclear how pepper spray could enter the system on its own.  

There were additional reports that a Hamburg subway station had also been evacuated, but these have not been confirmed.

The Hamburg Airport is the fifth busiest airport in Germany, and like most German airports features a fair amount of flights to and from the Middle East. The five-busiest non-European routes are:

1. Antalya, Turkey
2. Dubai, UAE
3. Hurghada, Egypt
4. Izmir, Turkey
5. Newark, New Jersey