Pepper spray injures 4, including a baby, at Gelsenkirchen station

A takeaway food worker sprayed pepper spray at a man inside a shop at Gelsenkirchen's main railway station on Tuesday evening, and the irritant spread through the station hall, causing breathing irritation in four bystanders, including a pregnant woman and an 11-month-old baby, federal police said. Police said the theft the worker said he had witnessed was not confirmed when officers later checked the customer.

The spray was used at about 7:40pm in a shop on Bochumer Strasse, inside the station. The pregnant woman and the baby were taken to hospital as a precaution, along with one other bystander; the fourth person affected was treated at the scene and did not need to go to hospital, WDR and WELT reported.

Emergency responders raised the alert to a mass-casualty response after finding several people affected, and medical teams checked five people in total, Bundespolizei said; three were taken to hospital for further checks, and two did not need to be transported. Fire crews from the city's Altstadt and Buer stations, plus several ambulances and an emergency doctor, took part; around 20 personnel were involved at the peak of the response, and the operation lasted about an hour.

Two employees of Gelsenkirchen's public-order office were also lightly injured by the spray, WDR reported. There was no disruption to train services, the fire department said, and federal police, who have jurisdiction at the station, have opened an investigation.

"The exact circumstances are still being established," a federal police spokeswoman said, adding that the use of the spray against the man may have been disproportionate. The worker now faces a complaint for causing bodily harm, police said. Federal police said establishing exactly who was responsible, and whether the force used was justified, was now the focus of their inquiry.