A drunk Russian physically attacked the pastor of the Ukrainian Catholic parish in Hamburg on Saturday.
Police officers city took the 46-year-old Russian national into custody April 2, the police said. State security has taken over the investigation.
The pastor, Father Pavlo Tsvyok, was slightly injured by the blow, and refused medical treatment on site.
"According to current knowledge, the 46-year-old rang the bell at the building of the Ukrainian parish, whereupon the pastor opened the door to him. Suddenly, the obviously heavily intoxicated man pushed the priest aside and hit him once in the upper body,” Hamburg police said.
The priest finally managed to force the man out of the building and to call the police.
The Russian man was sitting in the front yard of the parish when officers arrived, having previously damaged a fence and a flower bed.
Police said an alcohol test found the man had a blood alcohol content that was more than twice Germany’s level of legal intoxication for driving. After the police measures had been completed and he had sobered up, the man was released because there were no grounds for his arrest.
The state security investigations, in particular into the motive of the suspect, are ongoing.