Police killing prompts online hate speech probe in Germany

Following last week's murder of two police officers during a traffic stop in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, German investigators have found 399 cases of online hate speech and incitement related to the crime, the Ministry of the Interior of Rhineland-Palatinate said on Monday, reported Xinhua.

Of these online postings, 102 were "criminally relevant," and in 15 cases the persons responsible had already been identified by the State Criminal Police Office, according to the ministry.

"Virtual rage turns into real violence," said the state's Minister of the Interior, Roger Lewentz. "Wherever words are used like weapons, wherever they are intended to prepare the ground for brutalization and encourage others to commit acts of violence, the state must intervene consistently."

A video footage, in which a masked man publicly called for police officers to be lured onto country tracks and be shot (referred to in underworld slang as "cop hunting") had already led to an arrest last Friday, according to the ministry.

Two men suspected of shooting the two police officers are now in custody on charges of murder and poaching.

The State Criminal Police Office has since set up a special unit of 14 specialists to investigate hate speech cases on social media as an "immediate response to hate comments identified in connection with the crime," the ministry said.