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Opponents of the measures to contain the coronavirus adopted the term “walking” for demonstrations by the racist Pegida movement. Actually, here at the latest, Thomas Kemmerich, the chairman of the Thuringian FDP, should have been listening carefully when he asked to be the main speaker for a “walk” in Gera.
But Kemmerich, who was also elected Prime Minister of Thuringia on February 5 with the votes of the AfD and CDU, again demonstrated on Saturday that the delimitation to the right is virtually irrelevant even after the breakdown of the Erfurt dam.
He stubbornly defended his appearance on Twitter on Saturday night and wrote that he had participated in an event “by proportionality and a half-and-a-half crown exit.” The organizer and the only speaker with him was the businessman from Gera Peter Schmidt, member of the CDU economic council. Kemmerich provided his Twitter post with the hashtag #NoAfD.
Given the harsh criticism of his demo from and within his match, Kemmerich regretted it on Sunday afternoon. In a video conference, he distanced himself from the AfD, as he said. “I don’t do anything with them. I want to fight them.”
Kemmerich apologizes
On Saturday, Kemmerich said he did not realize that right-wing populists, crown deniers and conspiracy ideologues also participated in the “walk” in the AfD fortress, Gera. He and organizer Schmidt both “had no idea” before the dynamics and scale of the show. “I’ve never seen him like this before,” Kemmerich said. He didn’t want to give the AfDs a scenario, but “unfortunately he did.”
During the demonstration, “he was meticulously careful to abide by distance rules and wear a face mask,” Kemmerich said. He apologized for the images showing him without a mask and up close with other participants in the demonstration.
Kemmerich was head of government in Thuringia for a month, after his retirement, even under pressure from party supporters, he only managed for a long time. With his surprising appearance in Gera, he attracted the attention of critics of the pandemic measures, and in a city that is like a horseshoe around the Greiz district, where there is a particularly high number of infections.
According to the “Ostthüringer Zeitung”, some 750 people participated in the protest march on Saturday. Most of them ignored the distance rules and did not wear a face mask.
The stripes in the background dragged the right wing radicals, despite all the claims of the Thuringian TDP superior man. Kemmerich should have known if he had previously dealt with businessman Schmidt and his network in Gera.
Support for right-wing radicals in the city
Schmidt is in fact an official of the independent organization Economic Council of the CDU, but according to the CDU state association he is not a member of the party in Gera. The illustrious businessman prides himself on his relationships with internet politics: An image gallery documents the meetings with SPD member Thilo Sarrazin, who was criticized for his racist theses, but also with FDP leader Christian Lindner.
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Schmidt received help from known right-wing radicals in the city to mobilize for the protest announced on Saturday with authorities and also to conduct an unauthorized “walk” in Gera a week earlier. From people who share AfD and other Facebook posts from far-right organizations and with whom they are friends.
The couple Vanessa P. and David S. de Gera play a central role. She is a self-proclaimed “riot girl”. According to his own information, he collects donations for the Reich citizen and former Germany’s Adrianause, who was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Halle an der Saale regional court in April 2019 after being shot at a SEK official. .
With the Star of David in the protest march.
On Saturday Vanessa P. joined the protest procession with a big star of David. David S. documented the “walk” in a video that Schmidt later shared on Facebook.
Vanessa P. and David S. claim they work for Peter Schmidt at Geraer Schloss Osterstein, where the businessman has been one of two owners since 2017.
Both do not hide their disposition. David S. shares on Facebook that Germany has not experienced its “liberation” but a defeat and total submission. He distributes videos from the NPD party newspaper “Deutsche Stimm” and calls on Bundestag AfD member Stephan Brandner against “forced vaccination”.
According to reports from Antifa observers, David S. belongs to the Thügida far-right movement. On behalf of his organization “We are Thuringia”, he has counter-protesters from a right-wing protest in Gera in September 2016 greeted with Hitler’s greeting.
Both are very close to businessman Schmidt, managing director of an industrial assembly company. After Corona’s first “walk” on May 2, he posted that he was “very grateful” to have been in the market square in Gera along with Vanessa P. and David S.: “I just posted that I have one go out to walk and go for a walk with over a thousand people. You are just amazing. “
On Saturday night, Schmidt wrote on Facebook that in many other cities people were also on the street: “WE ARE MILLIONS!”
Thesis of conspiracy theorists.
In calling for the protest, Schmidt said he would not silently see us incapacitated and that they would trample on our fundamental rights. “He explicitly shared the thesis of the conspiracy theorists that government agencies would not provide complete and inaccurate information about the pandemic.
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On the web, Kemmerich’s appearance on Gera quickly caused a stir. Prominent liberals, especially from the west of the republic, were forced to clarify quickly: even at the time of the crown, the FDP defended the right to freedom of expression and assembly, but in compliance with the rules of distance and without doing common rights, was the message.
“Anyone who deliberately ignores hygiene measures and aligns with right-wing extremists is not in the middle,” Ria Schröder, the president of Young Liberals, tweeted. Konstantin Kuhle, a member of the Bundestag and secretary general of the FDP in Lower Saxony, wrote to the short message service: “Liberal democracy and open society are in danger, putting entire sections of the population on unreachable policies and conspiracy theories” .
The FDP politicians did not mention Kemmerich’s name, even if everyone knows it is intended. Only Tobias Raab, vice president of the FDP in Saarland, wrote that he “did not want” to justify himself as a liberal to his colleague from the Thuringian party. “It is completely resistant to learning or it has a problem with the delimitation of rights.”
FDP chief Lindner has no understanding
FDP internal politician Benjamin Strasser told Tagesspiegel on Sunday: “Peaceful protests against measures restricting fundamental rights in the wake of the crown pandemic are absolutely legitimate and necessary in a democracy.” But it is also important to comply with hygiene and distance regulations. “When the ‘hygiene demonstrations’ and the so-called 2020 resistance connect the middle class with the Nazis and conspiracy theorists, this should alarm all Democrats! Everyone should get accurate information about the demonstration they want to participate in. beforehand “.
FDP President Christian Lindner also spoke on Sunday afternoon. He wrote on Twitter: “Anyone campaigning for civil rights and a smart opening strategy does not manifest itself in dark circles and does not renounce distance and protection. @ KemmerichThL’s action weakens our arguments. I have no idea about that.” .
Strack-Zimmermann demands Kemmerich leave the party
At about the same time, FDP federal board member Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann reported on Kemmerich’s cause and suggested that the head of the Thuringian FDP resign from the party. “Apparently, he not only seeks physical proximity to the AfD and conspiracy theorists, but he obviously also shares his course of destroying democracy,” Strack-Zimmermann told Tagesspiegel. “You would do well to leave the FDP.”
The Bundestag member further said: “Sometimes you wonder how people reorient themselves politically, or even drift away. Thomas Kemmerich recently had a good election campaign and was a nice colleague. ” The policy asked the federal executive of his party to distance himself clearly from Kemmerich. “As a party, we will continue to be concerned with trying to differentiate ourselves strongly from right-wing populism, from the federal level to the municipalities,” he said. “Kemmerich’s cause has yet to be resolved.”
Prime Minister at the mercy of the AfD
The fact that the distancing of many liberals from Kemmerich occurred so quickly has to do with the prehistory of February when Kemmerich was elected Prime Minister of Thuringia with the help of AfD, an event that plunged the entire FDP into a deep crisis, a lost election to Hamburg citizenship included
At the time, dealing with Kemmerich was initially contradictory: after his election as head of state of Thuringia on February 5, some liberals congratulated him on the successful coup, others called for the Prime Minister of the FDP to withdraw immediately.
Finally, liberal leader Lindner personally had to urge his party friend to resign, and then publicly apologized for the “Thuringian fiasco.” Since then, the relationship between the two has been severed, and the name Kemmerich only causes the eyes of many liberals.
Ramelow says that Kemmerich’s appearance is very irritating.
Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) told Tagesspiegel on Sunday that it was “very irritating” to him that Kemmerich, as chairman of the Thuringian FDP state, had entered that environment. With his publications on the Internet, the organizer had given indications of a basic attitude, which Kemmerich now explicitly supported with his visit, with which he had shared.
And: “The organizer obviously accepted who else was there. There was no recognizable demarcation of anti-Semitism or right-wing extremism. “
Ramelow also noted that Jena Mayor Thomas Nitzsche (FDP) had acted “carefully and carefully” against the dangers of the pandemic and that word-of-mouth coverage was ordered earlier than in other cities. It is not understandable that the friend of the Nitzschees party, Kemmerich, is speaking out against it.
AfD’s role in Gera is not entirely clear
It is not entirely clear what role the AfD plays in the organization of Corona’s “walks” in Gera. The party seeks proximity to protesters in Gera and is also mobilizing for protests, but due to rivalries on the scene on the right, it appears to be partially left out of concrete preparations.
Bundestag member Stephan Brandner first attended Gera on May 2. The AfD had set up an information booth to protest on Saturday. Brandner praised the protest as a “walk for freedom in the winning city,” but criticized Kemmerich’s speech as an “instant idea” and criticized the FDP as a “failed party.” Brandner had pulled the strings in the background when Kemmerich was elected Prime Minister.
In other cities, protests by crown deniers are decisive. organized by the AfD, for example in Pirna in Saxony. There the CDU went off into the distance.
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In Saxony, State President and Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer defended himself against crown protests, saying “it was not great or particularly masculine to greet each other with a handshake and a big hug.” The appearance of some protesters is “very irresponsible”.
Christian Hirte, acting head of CDU, wrote Thursday in Thuringia On twitter: “The spread of conspiracy theories and the deliberate disregard of the demonstration requirements are out of order.” The CDU represents the greatest possible freedom and the necessary restriction. “I reject disregard for the rules in Gera, also on behalf of the CDU Thuringia.”
CDU City Council in Torgau with neo-Nazis on the way
The Eastern Commissioner of the Federal Government, Saxon member of the Bundestag CDU Marco Wanderwitz, wrote On twitter: “The fact that the FDP is now involved in the conspiracy rallies in Thuringia is terrifying. I am afraid that in Saxony it is also capable of a majority there.”
In one case, a few days earlier in Torgau, Saxony, Wanderwitz did not respond. There, Edwin Bendrin, CDU councilor, had followed the Crown “walk”. Information from Antifa activists shown in line with local neo-Nazi camaraderie. CDU responsible district president Marian Wendt confirmed the case when asked by Tagesspiegel. The matter had “gone very wrong”. Bendrin was a member of the parliamentary group, but not a member of the party. A “clarifying discussion” was held with him in the town hall group.
A troublesome case like Sarrazin and Palmer
A regional process at the CDU. Thuringian FDP chief and former short-term prime minister However, Kemmerich threatens to become a permanent issue for free Democrats, such as former Berlin Senator Sarrazin for the SPD or Tübingen Mayor Boris Palmer for the Greens .
They both like to provoke and are therefore criticized in their own party. The SPD is currently in the process of being expelled against Sarrazin, and the state executive of the Greens in Baden-Württemberg asked Palmer to resign on Friday. He had previously said in an interview with a view to the anti-crown measures: “In Germany, we can save people who would be dead in six months anyway.”
If Palmer really turned his back on the Greens, it would be welcome to the FDP. There is a corresponding offer from the Southwest FDP. Its president Michael Theurer, a representative of “eco-liberalism”, said the “Bild am Sonntag”: “Boris Palmer is very welcome at the FDP Baden-Württemberg. We are a home for critical minds. We can accept it, we are fighting for the freedom of expression. ”Palmer has now rejected the offer.
Kemmerich would probably also describe himself as a “critical head”. Until he fell out of favor with his election as Prime Minister of Thuringia, many liberals actually saw him as a man of clear words, harshness, as a “brand,” as the FDP speech says.
PDF on the theme of the crown in a balancing act
It is no coincidence that Kemmerich, who is a member of the Federal Executive Committee, now appears in a rally of crown deniers. In times of the pandemic, the FDP walks a very fine line.
Initially, he appeared in the role of a state support party that initially explicitly supported the federal government shutdown, but is now increasingly critical of anti-crown measures.
FDP Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki recently said the information provided by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) “gives the impression of being politically motivated numbers rather than scientifically sound.” Party leader Lindner later defended the statement, a position that should also be welcomed by crown deniers.
The course of liberals in the pandemic is reminiscent of the FDP line in the climate debate. There, too, free Democrats expressly don’t want to make common denominators of climate change. At the same time, however, they try to differentiate themselves from the ecological mainstream. Nicola Beer, the party’s deputy director, warned of “alarms” on the climate issue in early 2019 and denied the “explosiveness” of the issue.
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