UPROAR IN BERLIN: "Mannheim is dead?" – Green Party MP Tuba Bozkurt Sparks Controversy

Green Party MP Tuba Bozkurt has apologized after facing criticism, including from her own party, for an interjection during a speech by Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) in the state parliament regarding the police officer killed in Mannheim. "It was disrespectful and inappropriate, and I deeply regret it," she shared on the platform X on Thursday evening. "To the relatives, friends, and colleagues of Rouven L., whom I have hurt, I sincerely apologize." The "Tagesspiegel" was the first to report on this.

During the question hour at the plenary session in the House of Representatives, Spranger began to speak about police officer Rouven Lau. He was fatally wounded by an attacker with a knife at an anti-Islam protest last Friday and later died in the hospital. The SPD politician said, "The terrible death in Mannheim shows us, of course..." when an interjection came, "Mannheim is dead?" followed by laughter. Spranger responded, "I wouldn't laugh about that."

"This interjection was wrong. We will address this within the faction. Such a thing will not happen again," the Green Party faction in the House of Representatives stated on X on Thursday. The faction's full sympathy goes to the slain police officer, his family, and his colleagues.