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DThe limits of state power were again visible, this time in Kassel. The city of Hesse experienced an oppressive Saturday when around 20,000 of the so-called “lateral thinkers” roamed the streets. Most of them deliberately violated the legal requirements for demonstration and the Infection Protection Act. They were not wearing a protective mask and some of them attacked the police.
Kassel police emphasized in a statement that the “first dynamic phase with an increasingly aggressive general mood” had been “controlled by the prudent approach of the emergency services”. Attempts by various groups to break into other gatherings or public buildings could also be prevented with no known injuries before Sunday afternoon.
In the subsequent course, however, officials refrained from vigorously intervening, enforcing compliance with the mask and distance requirements or dissolving the meetings. The police relied on the principle of proportionality.
“A constant prevention of the holding of meetings or the consequent dissolution of prohibited meetings, in the opinion of the police, would have led to the use of coercive measures and, therefore, to a not inconsiderable number of injuries on all sides,” he said Kassel police. he justified his reluctance. The measures and the “temporary waiver of coercive and prosecution measures” were “necessary and adequate in weighing legal interests.”
Similar scenes had already occurred in other cities last year, such as Stuttgart and Munich. Also at that time, in view of the number of thousands of people, the police refrained from taking harsh measures and received much criticism.
After the events in Kassel, there was renewed outrage in politics at the irresponsible behavior of the demonstration participants. Criticism is also increasingly directed against the police deployment strategy. “That was not the first demonstration of ‘lateral thinkers’ in Germany. In the meantime, the police should have developed proper operational concepts to deal with such situations, and the police operation in Kassel doesn’t really look like this without having information for a final assessment, ”said Irene Mihalic, Greens internal policy spokesperson. parliamentary group, WELT. In some cases, emergency services had taken action against peaceful counter-protesters, “while the unauthorized demonstration of the ‘lateral thinker’, which was not allowed in this way, was not disturbed, its growth was not impeded to 20,000 people and the conditions were not enforced. . That needs to be thoroughly clarified now. “
Internal CDU politician Thorsten Frei complained that one experiences over and over again that “lateral thinkers” were not meeting the mark and were specifically looking for escalation. “The state must not back down and the police must act consistently against it,” said the vice president of the Union’s parliamentary group. “De-escalation can be useful in some specific situations. However, a reversal of the state always leads to a loss of confidence in the rule of law. “
The SPD MP, Dirk Wiese, called the participants, who had been on the road without a mask or distance, as “very irresponsible” and referred to the increasing number of infections and rampant mutations of the coronavirus: “Protesters in Kassel endanger themselves and others and therefore act completely in an unpleasant way. ” Anyone who deliberately ignores the requirements and attacks emergency services must expect “everyone to contradict us.” Wiese called for consistent action and prosecution of criminal offenses.
“Bullied and harassed”?
Konstantin Kuhle, a spokesman for internal politics for the FDP parliamentary group, accused the violent protesters of abusing basic rights. “Anyone who attacks police officers during demonstrations or prevents journalists from doing their job is abusing freedom of assembly.” Basic rights must also exist during the pandemic, so meetings are subject to conditions. “If, as in Kassel, the rules are not followed because participants do not keep their distance, do not wear a mask or gather in certain places despite the ban, the police must act consistently and end a meeting immediately.” .
The national political spokesperson for the Left Group, Ulla Jelpke, complained that the police and assembly authorities were treated very arbitrarily in the implementation of the Infection Protection Law. Participants in demonstrations by left-wing and immigrant groups are regularly “harassed and harassed” with reference to the Infection Protection Act, although they comply with hygiene requirements. He referred to a Kurdish demonstration by Newroz in Düsseldorf. This was forcibly dissolved, although the participants wore protective masks.
“On the other hand, so-called ‘lateral thinkers’, including tough Nazis, can obviously do anything, violently violating any hygiene requirement, and thus endangering themselves and others,” Jelpke explained. Here, “political and unsanitary considerations for police action or inaction appear to have been decisive.” The AfD parliamentary group did not comment on the events when asked.
The Lord Mayor of Kassel, Christian Geselle (SPD), was surprised by the events in his city. “I am appalled that protection against infection, the democratic exercise of freedom of assembly and human decency were simply largely unavailable,” said the Social Democrat. He sees this as a “slap in the face” from those who have to endure the suffering and hardships in the pandemic and help overcome the crisis with their hard work. According to descriptions by city officials and law enforcement, most of the protesters appear to have traveled from outside the country.
The city had rejected all demonstration records and banned the meetings. However, the initiators successfully sued the Kassel Administrative Court and ultimately the Hesse Administrative Court ruled that a meeting was allowed at Schwanenwiese and Platz der Deutschen Einheit with a maximum of 6000 participants and strict infection protection requirements. . The security forces had prepared for this scenario. But there were many more demo participants who had apparently connected and discussed with each other via messaging services and social media. The “tremendous mobilizing power of the participants” made the deployment concept that much more difficult, said Mayor Geselle.
The participants were also distributed around the city center. The presence of the elderly and families with children would have meant “additional obstacles to the strict application of the legal requirements under the assembly law and the infection protection law,” Geselle said. Furthermore, violations of the requirements are not a crime, but simply an administrative offense.
“The police are not to blame”
For these reasons, the Kassel city chief defended the police. “From my point of view, the local police are not to blame,” Geselle emphasized, speaking of a “tightrope walk” for emergency services as well. However, the incident required “a thorough review”, and this has been started. However, in the opinion of the Hessian Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU), it is already clear “that the attempts at escalation and violence against the emergency services were not accepted and resolutely prevented”.
The Thuringian police, who sent officials to Kassel to provide support, must also analyze the operation. Thuringian law enforcement officers are charged with violence against counter-protesters who stood in the way of “lateral thinkers”. One clip shows police officers kicking bicycles, pushing counter-protesters and throwing one of them to the ground.
“Of course, the mission will be critically monitored. Because of the photos, I too have urgent questions. I will not hesitate to provide the members of the Interior Committee with full information, ”wrote Thuringia Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) on the news platform“ Twitter ”.
According to the left-wing member of the state parliament, Katharina König-Preuss, there is “at least the initial suspicion of bodily harm in office.”
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