Raid in Dresden
After death threats against Prime Minister Kretschmer: Police search apartments
Michael Kretschmer (CDU), Prime Minister of Saxony
© Sebastian Kahnert / DPA
Special forces have been searching several apartments in Dresden since the early morning. The background is death threats against the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer at Telegram.
After death threats against Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) in the Telegram messenger service, the police in Dresden searched several objects. As the State Criminal Police Office announced on Wednesday, the public prosecutor’s office is investigating the suspicion of preparing a “serious state-endangering act of violence” against the members of a chat group.
The investigators have been working on several objects since the early hours of the morning, said LKA spokesman Tom Bernhardt in a video published on Twitter. Since the authorities suspect that the members of the group may be armed, special police forces were involved.
Chat members appear to be in possession of live weapons
According to the police, the investigation was initiated by a report by the ZDF magazine “Frontal21” last week. Accordingly, the members of the “Dresden Offline Networking” chat group rejected the decisions of the Saxon state government to contain the corona pandemic. According to the police, they discussed murder plans against Kretschmer and other representatives of the Saxon state government. The members of the group also stated in the chat that they had sharp weapons and crossbows.
The new federal government is currently examining tougher action against messenger services that are used to spread hatred and agitation. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced tougher action against Telegram, which is currently not covered by the Network Enforcement Act.
From February of next year, this law provides for a general obligation for operators of social networks to report criminal content from the area of hate crime to the Federal Criminal Police Office. Whether this also includes messenger services is obviously interpreted differently.
Criticism of Telegram is growing
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) called for tough action against Telegram – up to and including the blockade of the offer in Germany. “First you have to make a clear request to Telegram to eliminate hatred and agitation and to make it legally binding,” said Söder of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
“If this service then does not agree to help, then there are also ways to block,” he emphasized. “Freedom is a very central good, but it makes no sense to have unlimited freedom for the enemies of freedom.”