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The chaotic day of the demonstration in Leipzig sparked a debate about the possible political consequences. Many politicians accuse the Leipzig police and the Saxon Interior Minister Roland Wöller of failure, but there are also voices rejecting such criticism.
Left, Greens and the SPD in Saxony demand that the facts be dealt with in a special meeting of the Committee of the Interior. “An obvious planning disaster has caused the state of Leipzig to capitulate to the enemies of democracy and is unable to enforce the right to assembly or effectively counter attacks on protests, journalists and the police,” the policy spokesman said. national of the green parliamentary group Valentin Lippmann. . The left spoke of “state failure.”
At the “lateral thinking” rally in the center of Leipzig on Saturday, thousands of people ignored hygiene rules and other requirements. After the demonstration broke up, crowds of people moved through the city, although this was prohibited. The police, with 2,700 officers on duty, held back and let the protesters get away with it.
The authorities registered a total of 102 criminal offenses with 89 suspects, 13 provisional arrests and 18 arrests, as well as 140 administrative offenses for violation of the Crown Protection Ordinance and the right to assembly.
The Bautzen Higher Administrative Court (OVG) had only allowed the demonstration with a maximum of 16,000 participants in the city center on Saturday morning. The city had wanted to move the demonstration to a large parking lot on the outskirts of the city to protect against infection. The reasons why the court struck down this requirement are not yet known.
The president of the Conference of Interior Ministers, Georg Maier, has now called for consequences for comparable future events. “We have to prepare for the future to intervene much more consistently, much harsher and earlier in such meetings,” the Thuringian SPD minister said of ARD. “So I also need more staff on site to disrupt that meeting.”
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas put it even more clearly: “The Basic Law guarantees the right to demonstrate,” the SPD politician wrote on Twitter. “But anyone who, as in Leipzig, endangers other human beings, attacks policemen and journalists, spreads far-right agitation or sets fire to barricades during counter-demonstrations, leaves the realm of this fundamental right.”
Review? “Not objective and completely absurd”
Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht called for a “thorough investigation” of the rally’s escalation. “The freedom to demonstrate is not the freedom to use violence or to put others at massive risk,” said the SPD politician. Thousands together without masks are a peak of irresponsibility and selfishness in a pandemic.
Saxony Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) also condemned “recklessness and arrogance at a time when an open eye shows the dangers of the virus.” At the same time he announced a prosecution of the facts.
Interior Minister Roland Wöller defended the criticized police strategy. The passive behavior of the police officers ensured a largely peaceful demonstration and prevented violent clashes. “Now accusing the police of having failed is irrelevant and completely absurd.”
According to Wöller, “the use of coercion against the elderly or water cannons against children” was not an option. However, he did not enter into the fact that beyond the manifestation of “lateral thinking” and especially after its dissolution, scenes of violence and chaos did occur. The journalists’ consultations were not possible during the press conference.
Wöller was supported by the Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. “We have to stop questioning police tactics in hindsight without knowledge of the details and without a complete picture via remote diagnosis,” he says in one. CSU politician statement. “The police have my full backing.”
Leipzig Police Chief Torsten Schultze also defended the police actions. The operation ensured a largely peaceful course, but the implementation of infection protection was unsuccessful. “A pandemic is not fought with police means, but only with the common sense of the people,” he said.
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