The mood is heating up: Blockers on the North Sea coast prevent Vice Chancellor Habeck and other passengers from getting off a ferry. There is turmoil. The action raises questions.
Tumultuous scene on the North Sea: Angry demonstrators prevented passengers on a ferry from going ashore in Schlüttsiel, Schleswig-Holstein, on Thursday. Some of the blockaders are trying to storm the Wyker steamship shipping company’s ship. Their anger is directed against the Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens), who comes from the north. A few police officers with pepper spray and the captain’s departure maneuver just in time prevent anything worse from happening. But who is behind the action?
Schleswig-Holstein’s farmers’ association clearly distances itself from the action in North Frisia. President Klaus-Peter Lucht is driving the development. “We realize that we are being infiltrated,” says the official. The farmers’ protest is directed against the federal government’s planned cuts. The association has nothing to do with the action in Schlüttsiel. He rejects violence. “We really don’t know who organized this.”
The farmers’ dissatisfaction is great in view of the federal government’s cuts plans, said Lucht. The incidents at the pier woke many of them up, because that’s not how it works. Most colleagues rejected what happened: “Only a few say: That was all right.”
Farmers distance themselves
The chairman of the small farmers’ association Land Creates Connection (LSV), Stefan Wendtland, also says that they have nothing to do with the protests in Schlüttsiel. But he spoke to a participant in the front row. “There were unpleasant scenes.” A certain amount of pressure arose in the crowd. The demonstrators did not want to storm the ferry.
The ferry pier is in the small municipality of Ockholm. There were early indications of the campaign there. The whole thing was initiated via social media, says Mayor Matthias Feddersen. The community inquired because information circulating that Habeck wanted to meet with farmers on site was considered fake news. Finally they informed the police. “You can’t let him run into the open knife.”
After the incident, Habeck expressed concern about developments: “What worries me, even worries me, is that the mood in the country is heating up so much.” Protesting is a valuable asset in Germany. “Coercion and violence destroy this good.”
According to police reports, there were up to 300 people at the pier when the ferry arrived, and officials described the mood as tense. “Calls for a demonstration at the Schlüttsiel ferry pier, where Dr. Habeck was supposed to arrive in the afternoon, were spread on social media,” reports the responsible Flensburg police department.
“Not a minute too late, otherwise the mob would have been on board”
According to a ministry spokeswoman, Habeck is traveling back to the mainland from a private visit to Hallig Hooge. The Vice Chancellor was very happy to talk to the farmers because he knew their needs, says the spokeswoman. However, due to the security situation, no conversation took place. The demonstrators rejected offers to talk to individual farmers on board the ship. Because of the security situation, it was not possible to go to the people on land. Habeck’s safety is not guaranteed.
In addition to Habeck, the other 30 or so passengers cannot leave the ship. “In my view, this is coercion. This is a bad process,” says the managing director of the Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei, Axel Meynköhn. There could also have been medical emergencies on board. With his departure maneuver, the captain prevented the storming of the ferry at the last moment: “It wasn’t a minute too late, otherwise the mob would have been on board, with unimaginable consequences.” The ship then goes back to Hallig Hooge because of the commotion. The Vice Chancellor only reached the mainland again on Friday night.
The former mayor of Hoog, Katja Just, criticized the protest, which also affected her holiday guests. “This type of confrontation is not productive, but rather harmful when people are threatened,” she says.
Steinmeier “shocked”
After the escalation, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was also horrified. “Seeing a minister on a private trip being intimidated by an aggressive crowd and having to run to safety after threats shocked many in our country, including me. We cannot accept that,” Steinmeier told “Bild”.
Demonstrations are part of democracy and criticism of the government is legitimate, said the head of state. “However, calls for hatred and violence exceed the limits of what is justified.” Anyone who acts like this is violating the basic rules of democracy and damaging their own cause.
Heated mood against politicians in the country
The protest against Habeck comes just a few hours after Chancellor Olaf Scholz also had to listen to bitter accusations from citizens. During a visit to the flood area in Saxony-Anhalt on Thursday, the SPD politician was greeted with shouts of “Go back straight away.”
The traffic light politicians also get the bad mood in the country in black and white in the latest ARD Germany trend: Only 19 percent of those surveyed by Infratest dimap expressed satisfaction with the Chancellor’s work, the lowest value for a head of government since 1997. Habeck is with him 24 percent only slightly better and just ahead of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) with 23 percent.
A lot of anger has built up with the back and forth in energy and budget policy. But the manner of the protest apparently shocked even experienced politicians. It is now almost normal for them to hear chants of “warmongers,” “failures,” or “liars” at public rallies, as happens again and again to Scholz. It has a different quality when officials are approached in a situation as a private person.
After the rush on Habeck’s ferry, observers were reminded of a torchlight procession to the private home of Saxon Health Minister Petra Köpping (SPD) during the 2021 corona pandemic. Even back then, politicians across party lines said that this was not a legitimate protest, but rather intimidation. Habeck says that as minister he has police protection, but others have to “defend attacks on their own.” They are “the heroes and heroines of democracy.”