Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Student triggers police operation with Tiktok post – unfounded, as it turns out
A police officer observes children and young people in front of a school in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
© Bernd Wüstneck / DPA
Excitement at a high school in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: A principal calls the police because a student has allegedly spread criminal content on Tiktok. The officials view the case calmly.
What do the Smurfs and Germany have in common? Both are blue, it says in a video recorded by a student Tiktok is said to have published – and thus triggered a police operation. The director of the high school in Ribnitz-Damgarten didn’t find what the mother said was meant to be a “funny AfD advertising post” funny at all. At the end of February he called the police on the scene.
According to the school’s assessment, the student may have spread content relevant to state security with her posts. As the teenager’s mother told the right-wing conservative weekly newspaper “Junge Welt”, her daughter published the Smurfs video on the Tiktok platform. “And then she once posted that Germany is not a place, but a home.”
The Stralsund police, who have photos of the posts, can do this star-However, do not confirm the request. There was no video. However, the spokeswoman did not provide any further details about the content of the posts. In their eyes, however, the case is harmless: “We viewed the screenshots as free expression of opinion,” it says in the written answer.
No consequences for the student
Because the line between permitted and punishable behavior is sometimes thin, the officials, together with the school management, decided to hold an educational interview with the 16-year-old. The student was explained that freedom of expression is a valuable asset, but that this only applies if no crimes are committed. “Where the boundaries are (e.g. through the use of anti-constitutional symbols or similar) was shown to the student in an understanding manner,” said the police spokeswoman.
This means the case is closed for the officers and there are no further consequences for the student. Their data has been recorded by the police, but will be automatically deleted within the next four weeks. Whether this also applies to social media posts remains questionable. The teenager was not required to delete the posts. “The police are not checking this either because there is no reason or legal basis for this,” said the spokeswoman.
The school management of the high school in Ribnitz-Damgarten commented star-Do not inquire about the incident.
AfD reacts angrily
The AfD, on the other hand, is different: The Bundestag member for the Vorpommern-Rügen-Greifswald constituency and state spokesman Leif-Erik Holm spoke of a real scandal. “The anti-right hysteria is now taking on unbearable forms,” criticized the AfD politician. He accused the police of treating the girl like a criminal. The education policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Enrico Schult, emphasized that any form of political polarization had no place in schools. They should be a place of learning, without political influence from outside, as long as the students stand on the basis of the Basic Law.
Interior Minister Christian Pegel (SPD) was also asked about the case in the Schwerin state parliament on Thursday. If the police are called, they will come, said Pegel. There was a threat speech. But he sees no difficulties with the operation. The police officers acted in such a way that no one was stigmatized. Pegel: “I believe that proportionality was maintained.”
Sources: Police press releaseGerman press agency