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All of Germany is watching these scenes: after the attempted assault on the Reichstag, the debate on the Crown demonstrations in Berlin does not end. The most important questions.
The attempted assault on the Reichstag continues to cause a stir. Politicians argue about stricter security measures. The opposition demands clarification of how some 400 protesters were able to penetrate the steps of parliament unmolested. And how will the demonstrations against the Crown measures continue? t-online.de answers the most important questions about the Reichstag scandal.
Who really manifested there?
According to the police, more than 38,000 people took to the streets of Berlin on Saturday. About 400 of them tried to enter the Reichstag building that night. The actual demonstration was started by the organization “lateral thinking”. Michael Ballweg, head of the Stuttgart Initiative, distanced himself from the rioters after the Reichstag scandal: “They have nothing to do with our movement.” Lateral thinking is a peaceful and democratic movement, violence has no place there.
The protesters came from a wide variety of backgrounds. Among them were neo-Nazis, vaccine opponents, conspiracy theorists, and citizens of the Reich who do not recognize the Federal Republic and the Basic Law. The “lateral thinking” movement actively sought proximity to these groups. Here you can read more about it. The opponent of the vaccination, Robert F. Kennedy, nephew of the former president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was able to speak as a guest of honor on stage. Here you can read more about it.
Corona protest in front of the Chancellery: t-online.de met with people in the Berlin “lateral thinking” camp and found out what they were asking for. (Source: t-online.de)
A visit to the “lateral thinking” protest camp before the demonstration shows that the protest against the crown measures was the lowest common denominator of the participants.
Who are the three policemen?
When the enraged crowd began to burst in the direction of the Reichstag building, initially only three policemen reacted with presence of mind. They ran after the protesters, stood in front of the entrance doors and pushed people back. The names of the police officers are not known to protect them. The policeman without a helmet is the driver of the fifth alarm group of the Berlin police.
The 53-year-old works at Berlin’s Neukölln and Kreuzberg hotspots and has experience in drug-related crime and riots, “Bild” reported. In front of hundreds of people storming the Reichstag, he gets by without a cane or pepper spray.
“I want you to come down (from the stairs) now,” she kept saying firmly. His two companions, on the other hand, pushed the protesters back with batons until reinforcements arrived a few minutes later. Little is known about them. It is only known that he is a group leader from Berlin and an official of the same association. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has invited the police officers to the Bellevue Palace.
Were the crown demonstrations in Berlin just the beginning?
Peaceful protest against Corona’s measures: At least that was the objective of the demonstration that was communicated abroad. Things often looked different on the same streets. Numerous posters called for the removal of Merkel and the federal government. In addition, there were opponents of vaccination, conspiracy theorists, and numerous Reich citizens. Therefore, the resistance element plays a central role, Dieter Rucht, a sociologist and researcher of the Berlin protest, is sure.
Rucht suspects that the demonstration will not remain an isolated incident. “The self-confidence of belonging to the resistance against ‘those above’ is no longer limited to right-wing extremists,” Rucht said. The whole movement has gotten bigger. “It will probably continue to grow, but that’s pure speculation,” says Rucht. The wave of hatred against the police surprised him, said the scientist, who was right there.
Overall, the protest investigator credited officials with being calm and prudent, despite the occasional use of force. However, Rucht also noted: “The police were basically unable to control compliance with the requirements.”
Why were there so few policemen in front of the Reichstag?
According to their own statements, the Berlin police were generally deployed with sufficient force in front of the Reichstag building on Saturday. There were 250 police officers to protect the Reichstag in the government district, police operations chief Stephan Katte told the Berlin Interior Committee on Monday. The incident shouldn’t have happened like that, he stressed. “However, sufficient forces were deployed.” This was also demonstrated by the fact that the support units were there within minutes. “It is also not the case that the three colleagues were only standing above, the colleagues were also below, but they were simply invaded and pushed aside.”
However, according to the police, a large part of the police had moved laterally between the Reichstag and the Tiergarten on Saturday night to stop the influx of protesters. As a result, there were apparently not enough police officers behind the barriers directly in front of the building.
Where was Horst Seehofer really?
After the attempted assault on the Reichstag, many on social media initially blamed Interior Minister Horst Seehofer for the escalation, and the hashtag “SeehoferRücktritt” was trending on Twitter. The accusation: He had underestimated the danger posed by right-wing extremists for years. These have now used the current crown protests for their purposes.
Seehofer himself was not present at the demonstration. That would have been an unusual procedure for the top head of the German security authorities. After the attempted assault on the Reichstag, the CSU politician spoke through “Bild am Sonntag”: “Diversity of opinion is a trademark of a healthy society. However, freedom of assembly has its limits where state rules are trampled. “
He was dismayed by the events. “The Reichstag building is the place of activity of our parliament and therefore the symbolic center of our liberal democracy. It is unbearable that chaos and extremists misuse it for their own ends. I thank the police for protecting us quickly and consistently today. The state must oppose it. Take action against those people with zero tolerance and constant severity. “
Are security measures against the Bundestag tightened?
A prohibition mile around the Bundestag? After the Saturday night images, political Berlin is debating how such scenes can be prevented in the future. Berlin Interior Senator Andreas Geisel stressed on RBB information radio that the Reichstag was not unprotected. However, there were very few police officers on the scene for a minute or two. Due to more unrest near the Russian embassy, not far from parliament, emergency services had to help, Geisel said.
Right-wing CSU politician Volker Ullrich suggested that the de facto ban on demonstrations for the “pacified district” around the Bundestag should no longer be limited to parliament days.
“We have to better protect parliament as a constitutional body and symbol of our democracy,” Ulrich told “Welt.” “It must be considered whether the validity of the pacified district of ‘Bannmeile’ should not also be extended to weeks without meetings, with the possibility of making exceptions.”
Greens MP Konstantin von Notz also sees the need for action, but did not go as far as Ulrich: “I think it is necessary, in the context of the events of the weekend, to discuss again and improve security The highly symbolic character of the Reichstag building should be better taken into account in the regulations for the forbidden mile in the future, “he said without saying exactly what improvement he was referring to.
Bundestag Vice President Claudia Roth (Greens), on the other hand, wants to keep an open Reichstag. “We are not a high security wing,” he told Deutschlandfunk on Monday. “The Bundestag is and will continue to be an open house that invites citizens, who receive guests from all over the world, to experience our democracy.” To prevent situations like the weekend, a security concept is needed. “That will certainly have to be discussed at the Berlin level, but that will also have to be discussed in our house,” Roth said.
