After the fatal attack on a 25-year-old at a Christopher Street Day meeting in Münster, the suspect has to be remanded in custody.

The magistrate imposed a detention on Saturday against the 20-year-old on suspicion of bodily harm resulting in death, the police and prosecutors said. The suspect fled after the crime a week ago and was arrested on Friday. He has not yet commented on the allegations, it said.

The fact

The 20-year-old is said to have insulted several women at the CSD meeting on August 27, including the words "lesbian whore" and approached them threateningly. The 25-year-old asked him to refrain from the insults. But according to the investigation, the perpetrator suddenly hit the 25-year-old with his fist at least once.

He fell to the ground and hit his head on the asphalt. He was taken to a hospital, later placed in an induced coma, and died on Friday morning. The body was scheduled for an autopsy on Monday.

The investigations

The 20-year-old fled after the attack, but was recognized and arrested by a homicide detective on Friday at the main station in Münster. His nationality is known to the investigators, but is not mentioned, said senior public prosecutor Dirk Ollech of the German Press Agency. There is no connection between nationality and the alleged crime.

An unknown companion of the 20-year-old, who is said to have fled with him after the crime and may have been involved in the insults, is also being investigated. So far there have been no new findings, Ollech reported.

A CSD event on Saturday in Dortmund with around 3000 registered participants remained undisturbed. The Slado association there had called for the demo for diversity and more tolerance towards any sexual orientation. According to police estimates, a little more people than registered came to the move near the main station and a rally. It's going "quietly and without any problems," said a police spokesman.

Association criticizes social media

According to the lesbian and gay association, anti-queer attitudes are reinforced by social media. For many years there have been such misanthropic attitudes in society, which are fueled by the "echo chambers" on the Internet, criticized René Mertens from the LSVD on WDR 5 in "Morgenecho". Social media contribute to the fact that "homophobic sayings and anti-queer ideologies" turn into hatred and violence, said Mertens.

The LSVD officer emphasized the Münster case: "It was really an anti-queer act of violence." There was also hostility at CSD events in Berlin, Jena or Bielefeld - people were attacked, rainbow flags were torn. The association Trans*Inter*-Münster had also emphasized that it was an anti-queer attack, and the dead man was a trans man.

Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) wrote on Instagram: "The perpetrator of this cruel hate crime must be held accountable quickly." It is not an isolated case. "This is the sad consequence of increasing hostility toward queers in our society, which far too often ends in death."

LSVD speaker Mertens appealed: "We need the solidarity of society as a whole." There has been a lot of progress in the legal and political field in recent years. But there is still a lot to be done in terms of social attitudes and education.

According to the WDR report, the authorities become aware of about three anti-queer acts of violence every day nationwide. There is also a high number of unreported cases - many things are not displayed.

The left in North Rhine-Westphalia warned that the breeding ground for the crime was provided by hostility towards trans people, which had increased sharply in the past few months, especially in social media. Social media platforms should be held responsible for taking consistent action against hate online. And: "The judiciary and authorities must finally pursue this consistently."

The chief of police in Münster, Alexandra Dorndorf, said: "I'm glad that the arrest of the suspect after the brutal attack on the fringes of the CSD was successful on Friday." Münster stands for open-mindedness, diversity and civil courage. "The terrible incident shows how important it is that we protect these values ​​and stand together as a society."