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JFood Minister Christine Lambrecht approved the police operation with water cannons against protesters who protested in Berlin on Wednesday against state corona measures and the Infection Protection Act. The SPD politician told the Funke media group newspapers that if conditions such as mask requirements or keeping one’s distance were deliberately ignored, the meeting would have to be dissolved. “The state has to show who has a monopoly on force in this country. It cannot be that the state resigns itself when many protesters deliberately violate the rules. “
Under protest from thousands of people in the government district, the Bundestag and Bundesrat paved the way for the coalition’s planned changes to the Infection Protection Act on Wednesday. The Berlin police used water cannons for the first time in years, but without a pointed jet, but only in spray mode.
On the sidelines of the protests, there were occasional fights between police officers and protesters. According to the police, a total of 365 people were temporarily detained. Two people were tried to see if they would be detained. According to the police, ten officers had reported injuries at night.
Two participants in the demonstration hold a wooden cross in their hands
Source: dpa / Fabian Sommer
The situation only improved in the late afternoon. Hundreds of people demonstrated against the law in front of Bellevue Palace, the official residence of the federal president, that night.
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) also defended the actions of the police. “The democratic constitutional state is alive and the police are its protective shield,” he said Wednesday night.
When asked if the “lateral thinking” movement would become a case for constitution protection, Lambrecht said this classification would have to affect constitution protection offices. The “lateral thinking” movement leads the protests. “But when you read what is on some posters, it gives you pause. What is observed among some of the so-called lateral thinkers does not correspond to our constitutional order. The question arises whether the movement has become a reservoir for right-wing extremists, anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists. ” In many cases, he can no longer understand the story of the simple and concerned citizen who takes to the streets.
Comparing the current changes to the Infection Protection Law with the so-called National Socialist Empowerment Law, he said: “This is an infamous comparison that pokes fun at the victims of the Nazi regime and for which I have no understanding.” With the so-called Enabling Act, the Reichstag was in 1933 without power and the legislation transferred to the Reich Chancellor, Adolf Hitler. At that time, the rights of parliament and the constitution were de facto suspended, and a wave of brutal persecution of dissidents followed, Lambrecht said. “Today we are strengthening the rights of the Bundestag and clearly showing what restrictions are possible and under what conditions.”
Police arrest naked man on the sidelines of the demonstration
Quelle: Getty Images / Sean Gallup
Lambrecht emphasized that the government’s action against the pandemic continues to receive great approval from the population. “There are few, but particularly noisy groups protesting against this.”
SPD leader Saskia Esken also praised the actions of the police. “I welcome the fact that the police acted early and consistently to protect democracy and health,” he told the Germany publishing network (Thursday). The failure to observe the prescribed rules of conduct for fighting the crown was in itself reason enough to dissolve the meeting. “But that, as in similar events, far-right symbols are displayed up to the Hitler salute, while at the same time our policy is equated with the authorization of the Nazis or the mask requirement is placed on the same level as the murder in Mass of the Shoah, which is beyond all limits of democratic tolerance should be a red flag for all of us. “
The leader of the green parliamentary group Anton Hofreiter told the “Passauer Neue Presse”: “When people fear for their existence such as gastronomy and the cultural sector, and the ‘Red Alert’ movement manifests itself peacefully and in compliance with the rules, it I understand very well”. Around the Reichstag, however, right-wing extremists, Reich citizens, and conspiracy theorists were again on the move without mask or distance and wanted to storm the Bundestag. “This is an attack on democracy and its institutions.”
Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the Auschwitz International Committee, expressed outrage at the AfD. At the beginning of the Bundestag debate, the parliamentary director perfidiously tried to bring the Infection Protection Act closer to the Nazi Enabling Act. “The incendiary attitude of the AfD and its attempt to abuse the insecurity of the people again and again and to open democracy and parliament to attack is regrettable and unworthy,” he said.
The Bundestag council of elders is also dealing on Thursday with the suspicion that the AfD smuggled right-wing rioters into the Reichstag building the day before. These are said to have harassed MPs in the corridors during the debate on the Infection Protection Act, as reported by several MPs.
The parliamentary group AfD sympathized with the protest
Source: dpa / Michael Kappeler
According to a report from the Germany publishing network, an AfD member confirmed that a woman from his list was invited to the meeting. It is said that it was the woman who pressured Economy Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) with questions, filmed him and insulted him. This can be seen in a YouTube video. Other activists also came to the Bundestag at the invitation of the AfD. This is also consistent with the ARD capital study research.
“This is the gentlest way to use the water cannon”
When trying to break up the demonstration of opponents of the Infection Protection Act, the police encountered fierce resistance. Rainer Wendt from the German Police Union explains the officers’ strategy and advocates the use of water cannons.
