As of: 27.06.2021 3:38 p.m.
The SPD and the Greens in the NRW state parliament want to apply for a current hour in which the demo against the planned assembly law is processed. There, journalists were apparently attacked by the police.
The demonstration in Dusseldorf, at which several thousand participants protested against the planned assembly law of the NRW state government on Saturday, has political consequences. Both the SPD and the Greens parliamentary groups in the Düsseldorf state parliament want to apply for a current hour on the subject. The left announced legal action against the police operation.
At the event there were several clashes between the police and demonstrators, in which the officers used irritant gas and batons. The police report that the emergency services had previously been attacked several times by participants in the demo. In one of these clashes, a journalist got between the fronts and was beaten several times with a baton, as the police wrote in a press release.
Opposition demands “complete clarification” from the state government
“The pictures and information that have reached us so far about the mission cause great irritation and concern for us,” said SPD parliamentary group leader Thomas Kutschaty in a press release on Sunday. Physical attacks on journalists are an attack on the freedom of the press and are unacceptable. “We demand full transparency of the processes and expect Interior Minister Reul to agree to it,” said Kutschaty.
“The allegations about the mission must be dealt with completely and without gaps,” demanded Verena Schäffer, Chairperson and domestic Spokeswoman for the Greens in the state parliament. At the same time she criticized the draft law against which the participants in the demonstration protested on Saturday. “This draft of the state government for a NRW assembly law breathes the spirit of repression,” said Schäffer.
The regional association of the Left Party declared that it wanted to take legal action against the police operation. “The behavior of the police was clearly disproportionate and presumably illegal,” said the national association’s domestic affairs spokesman, Amid Rabieh, who was apparently at the demo himself
The police operation makes it clear why NRW urgently needs a liberal assembly law that strengthens basic rights and also obliges the police to de-escalate, cooperate and manage conflicts, said state board member Fotis Matentzoglou.
Police are said to have attacked dpa photographers
Meanwhile, the German press agency said that the journalist attacked by the police was a dpa photographer. dpa editor-in-chief Sven Gösmann called the process an “unacceptable attack on freedom of the press”. In a letter to the responsible North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), he demanded the complete clarification of the events.
Reul did not want to comment publicly on the events on Sunday and had a spokesman explain: “Freedom of the press is a great asset. That is why we are carefully examining the facts and clarifying the allegations carefully.” But being careful also means that you don’t take quick shots.
His spokesman, however, promised detailed information “in the coming days”, as the dpa reported.
Source: wdr.de