extremism
600 participants in solidarity demonstration for ex-RAF terrorists
Several hundred participants in a demonstration in solidarity with underground or imprisoned RAF members marched through Berlin in the evening. photo
© Christophe Gateau/dpa
Several hundred demonstrators march through Berlin in solidarity with RAF members who have gone into hiding or are imprisoned. Interior Minister Faeser finds clear words.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser organized the demonstration in solidarity with those in hiding or imprisoned RAF members criticized in Berlin. “The RAF brutally murdered 34 people. There is nothing, nothing at all, to glorify,” the SPD politician told the Editorial Network Germany (RND). She wanted those who expressed solidarity with terrorists in hiding to “think for just a second what this means for the survivors of the many people who were killed by the RAF.”
Faeser thanks investigators for “maximum search pressure”
The weapons confiscated in Berlin show that the current police measures are also dealing with considerable dangers, said Faeser. She thanked the investigators for using maximum pressure against the other RAF terrorists who were still wanted. “No one should feel safe underground.” It is also important to examine carefully which supporters made it possible for the RAF terrorists to go into hiding for so long and are still making it possible today.
The son of Federal Prosecutor General Siegfried Buback, who was murdered by the RAF in 1977, Michael Buback, had already commented on the demonstration: “For us as relatives of the victims of RAF murders, it is of course very depressing to see how strong the sympathy for former, Terrorists attributed to the RAF are still,” he told the RND (Saturday). “Perhaps the announced expressions of sympathy from the left-wing scene are also a wake-up call for all those who locate extreme ideas and actions exclusively in the right-wing spectrum.”
Demonstrators march past Klette’s apartment
According to the Berlin police, around 600 people marched through Berlin on Sunday at the registered and approved demonstration under the motto “Stop state terrorism – solidarity with those in hiding and prisoners”. Among other things, they walked through Sebastianstrasse, where former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette (65) lived under an assumed name before her arrest at the end of February.
The police accompanied the demonstrators from the left-wing scene, who regularly chanted “We are not all – the prisoners are missing” along the entire route. Numerous posters and banners could be seen with slogans such as “Freedom for Daniela – the system is terrorist” or “Where are the raids against the right?”
Even before the start, demonstrators set off fireworks
Even before the demonstration started, fireworks were set off. Later, individual firecrackers exploded. The police spoke of the repeated use of pyrotechnics. Some of the demonstration participants wore black scarves or black corona masks in front of their faces. There were no violent incidents. The demonstration was registered until 10 p.m., but ended much earlier.
The former RAF terrorist Klette (65) was arrested on February 26th in her apartment on Sebastianstrasse in Kreuzberg. She went into hiding over 30 years ago with Burkhard Garweg (55) and Ernst-Volker Wilhelm Staub (69). All three belonged to the so-called third generation of the left-wing extremist terrorist organization Red Army Faction, which carried out numerous attacks and killed people until 1991. In 1998 the RAF declared itself dissolved.
There are arrest warrants against Klette, Staub and Garweg on suspicion of involvement in terrorist attacks. They were or are also wanted for several robberies. Between 1999 and 2016 they are said to have robbed money transporters and supermarkets in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. They are also accused of attempted murder because there was a shooting.