Quite a few injured
Aggressive protests against corona rules – Scholz: “Counter threats with the utmost sharpness”
In Greiz, Thuringia, 14 police officers were injured during protests against the Corona measures. 91 proceedings were initiated.
© Bodo Schackow / DPA
It was a restless weekend. In several cities there were clashes between opponents of the corona measures and the police. Several officers were injured. Interior Minister Faeser calls for a clear distinction between rights and “Reich citizens”.
During demonstrations by vaccination opponents and so-called lateral thinkers, violent incidents occurred several times over the weekend. In Greiz in Thuringia, according to the police, there were physical attacks on emergency services in an elevator with up to 1000 participants on Saturday, in which 14 officers were injured. The new Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) called on demonstrators to delimit right-wing extremists. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) condemned threats such as martial torchlight marches in front of politicians’ apartments in “Bild am Sonntag”, but also emphasized: “I am also Chancellor of the unvaccinated.”
In Greiz, several hundred demonstrators had gathered in several groups, as the police announced on Sunday night in Erfurt. When officials stopped an elevator, there were “attempts to break through”. Police officers used pepper spray and 14 officers were injured. An officer had to be treated in a clinic. Emergency services identified the personal details of 227 people and initiated 91 proceedings.
Corona opponents in Saxony attack the police: Several injured
On Sunday the police from Bennewitz in Saxony also reported injuries after clashes. According to the first information from the emergency services, these were two slightly injured officers and two participants in the meeting there, who were not registered and were also inadmissible according to the coronavirus requirements.
Accordingly, the police wanted to determine the personal details of the participants in a gathering of around 25 people on Sunday morning when officers were attacked. The police in Leipzig reported on the incident that the situation could only be brought under control through a “robust approach”.
In Reutlingen, demonstrators break police chains
In a demonstration with around 1,500 participants in Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg, the police also reportedly used batons and pepper spray on Saturday because participants in a rally violently broke police chains.
As the police and the city announced on Saturday evening, the demonstration had previously been broken up by the authorities because conditions were ignored and no leader of the meeting had been appointed. Even so, an elevator began to move. When officers stopped him, the breakthroughs occurred. Rescue workers arrested the participants in a park, recorded their personal details and issued references. The police also initiated criminal proceedings.
Faeser: Too little distinction between rights and “Reich citizens”
So-called lateral thinkers and similar groups had called in many places over the weekend for demonstrations against the German vaccination campaign and the measures to contain the pandemic. Most of the rallies were of a manageable size, often only a few dozen participants came together. But there were also some larger protests, for example in Hamburg. Several thousand people came together there. The rallies were often accompanied by counter-demonstrations.
Interior Minister Faeser called on participants in protests against the Corona measures to separate right-wing extremists and so-called Reich citizens more clearly. “Right-wing extremists and ‘Reichsbürger’ are trying to enforce the movement in order to pursue their own goals,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group on Sunday. “Unfortunately, the bourgeois demonstration participants still do not distinguish themselves enough from these people.”
Protection of the Constitution intensifies observation
It is important to significantly step up efforts for social cohesion “so that we can overcome the attempts to divide the anti-democratic forces,” added the new Federal Minister of the Interior. At the same time, she warned against a further radicalization of the so-called lateral thinkers movement. “The willingness to use violence is increasing,” she said.
This is particularly evident in the demonstrations against the Corona measures. “There the police, journalists and people with a different opinion are being attacked more and more often and sometimes very roughly,” said Faeser. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution “has now significantly intensified its monitoring of all extremist sections of the movement”. “We keep a close eye on these people.”
Scholz: “I want to hold the country together”
In the “Bild am Sonntag”, however, Chancellor Scholz contradicted the thesis that Germany was split. “Germany is not divided,” emphasized Scholz. Most of the citizens would have been vaccinated. Many more wanted to do it now because they had overcome their concerns. There are “very few” who believe that they have to demonstrate their resistance to the vaccinations with martial torch marches. We must counter such threats with the utmost severity, “said Scholz. Those who are radicalized are a very small part of the population. “I want to hold the country together,” said Scholz.