Pepper spray attack after a traffic dispute in Finsterwalde shaken!

Pepper spray attack after a traffic dispute in Finsterwalde shaken!

Finsterwalde, Deutschland - A traffic dispute on Geschwister-Scholl-Straße in Finsterwalde ended yesterday in a shocking incident with pepper spray. A 33-year-old driver had to brake a danger because a cyclist took his right of way. When the driver wanted to confront the cyclist, he sprayed pepper spray in his face. The 22-year-old cyclist is known to the police, and investigations have already been initiated against him, reports Niederlausitz Aktuell .

The pepper spray attack led to the driver suffering eye irritation and had to be taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, such incidents are not isolated and represent a growing problem, not only in rural areas such as Finsterwalde, but also in urban regions such as Berlin.

increase in irritant gas incidents

In the capital, the police already registered 589 incidents with irritant gas from January to April 2025, which represents an increase compared to 542 in the previous year. The trend shows an increasing number of such attacks, and many of the perpetrators are male and grown up. These incidents often led to breathing difficulties, skin and eye irritation in the victims, such as Tagesspiegel reported.

A particularly serious incident occurred in May 2024 in a shopping center in Lichtenberg, where 14 people were injured by pepper spray. Also at a free concert by the rapper Samra in the Neuköllner Gropius passages, 18 people were victims of an irritant gas attack.

Health consequences of irritant gas

The health effects of irritant gas can vary greatly depending on sensitivity and dose. Inhaling can lead to irritation of the mucous membranes, which is particularly dangerous for older people with lung previous diseases and younger people with unknown asthmatic predispositions. The police have also found that the purchase of pepper spray, which is declared as a "animal defense spray", is possible without official approval. This could continue to favor the spread of such irritating gases, such as rbb24 noted.