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Tamara K. speaks hoarsely. The alternative doctor from the Aachen area is counted according to SPIEGEL information from the constitutional protection of North Rhine-Westphalia to the Reich citizen scene. Since the weekend she has been the woman who incited a right-wing mafia in front of the Reichstag in Berlin, and thus caused the uproar in the country. “It is important for the world to see that people are opposed to the German injustice regime,” she says by phone.
The scenes are recorded in a video that circulates on the network. It shows Tamara K. with dreadlocks standing on a small stage in front of the Reichstag. Saturday night, around 7 pm In the capital, a total of more than 38,000 protesters are heading to protests against Corona’s measures, according to official figures. “Look at you, the police have removed their helmets,” shouts Tamara K. into the microphone. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, is in Berlin. “Let’s go up there now.”
Shocking incident
Between 300 and 400 protesters quickly break through the barriers, wave the Reich flag, a symbol of right-wing extremists, and in no time are up the stairs to the Reichstag entrance. There they only face individual policemen. A video shows three officers in the foreground, visibly energized. It takes a few minutes, then the reinforcements come in and push the bullying down.
The incident, for which the Interior Ministry, according to an internal situation report, blames the specter of “Reich citizens” and “brotherhoods”, shocks political Berlin. And it raises the question of how it could happen that the police were misled in front of the Reichstag of all places. In a place that could hardly be more symbolic for German democracy.
Calls for violence and the overthrow of the government circulated on chat groups and social media days before the demonstration. The security authorities have obviously underestimated the seriousness with which some right-wing extremists and conspiratorial ideologues took disruptive actions against democratic institutions.
“The Reichstag’s lack of protection was a deficit in operational planning,” says criminologist Christian Pfeiffer. Stephan Kelm, a Berlin MP for the GdP police union, admits: “At the moment there were not as many police as there should be.” That was “of course not optimal”.
Officers invaded
On the interior committee, Operations Manager Stephan Katte said Monday that there were basically “enough forces” there. 250 police officers were deployed to the Reichstag and the government district. At the time of the incident, however, many officials were posted between the Reichstag and the Tiergarten to stop the influx of protesters. The remaining officials in front of the Reichstag were later invaded. According to Katte, that shouldn’t have happened.
In the Interior Committee it was not possible to finally clarify what exactly was the order of deployment of the police command. Until now, the document has been kept under lock and key. These include tactics and instructions on where and how available officers should be deployed in a situation.
On its own, the number of public servants that were basically available in the government quarter is not significant, says Berlin SPD national politician Tom Schreiber. “As members of parliament, we need to know: What exactly was the assignment of these police officers? Has it been neglected to establish a permanent presence of units to secure hotspots like parliament? If so, was it a clear tactical mistake in terms of of police tactics, “Schreiber said. .
“As announced, the Nazis took advantage of it”
“The operational order must also indicate whether scene-aware civilian agents were deployed to protect the area around the building. They could have immediately reported the development of the situation and the increasingly aggressive mood. Whether that happened is a question. central, “says Schreiber. For reasons that were unexplained until now, the front door was left open for a short time, so Schreiber. As announced, the Nazis took advantage of that. “
However, experts advise caution. The police “behaved sensibly except for the incident in front of the Reichstag,” says criminologist Pfeiffer. “She stayed in the background, she was not involved in big battles.” This defensive line “has basically proved its worth.” The “verbal excitement” is excessive. “The right weirdos get too much attention.” A trifle becomes a matter of state.
Hamburg police investigator Rafael Behr says the Berlin police “did more good than harm.” He has renounced “martial behavior”, has used violence sparingly and cautiously, and has therefore followed his long-term line. One should not “over-dramatize” the incident before the Reichstag.
“It would probably have been better if the police had a few more forces on the street,” Behr said. At the same time, during such large demonstrations, situations “in which the police are briefly overwhelmed” could never be completely avoided.
Berlin-based trade unionist Kelm advocates protecting the Reichstag with technical barriers “that prevent protesters from simply storming the entrance stairs.” One possibility is the raised fences. Furthermore, more staff should be “employed” in comparable situations.
Kelm also doubts that the protesters could have actually penetrated the Reichstag. “The Reichstag would not have been stormed if the protesters had passed the police at the entrance,” Kelm said. “The doors are too protected for that, and the Bundestag police station was also in the building.”
The ideologist of the conspiracy Tamara K. explains her appearance on Saturday with a special spirit. “We got the news that President Trump had come to town. That was disinformation.”
She spontaneously asked people to climb the stairs of the Reichstag. There was no longer a policeman on the stairs, their helmets had been removed beforehand. For them the sign: “Now we can go up there.” She didn’t call for a building assault. “We just want world peace.”
