The army soon to be deployed alongside the police against the farmers who have been demonstrating in Germany for several days? This is what a video shared on social networks suggests, wrongly. TikTok or X (formerly Twitter).
The video was initially shared online by German netizens, with comments such as: “There are rumors that the Bundeswehr [l’armée allemande] could be deployed to reinforce the police. » It was also later taken up by French-speaking accountsaccompanied by the caption: “In the event of an alarm, all the forces of the Bundeswehr available are immediately available to support the police forces…”
Lasting around twenty seconds, the extract shows Carsten Breuer, General Inspector (German Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces), speaking from behind a lectern. The first sentence of the extract states: “In the event of an alert, all available armed forces are immediately ready to support the police forces. »
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The video was taken out of context. As some Internet users have noticed in the “community notes” on X, it actually dates from 2021. Thanks to a reverse image search, we can find its origin. The extract comes from a video posted on YouTube by a German account, entitled: “Carsten Breuer – Major General of the Bundeswehr on cooperation between Bundeswehr and the police. Published on October 7, 2021, this speech was made “as part of Geotex2021”, “at Hof”, as the video description indicates.
As reported by the german press as well as the Bavarian state websitea reaction exercise to a fictitious terrorist attack mobilizing the police and the army was organized on October 6, 2021. The sequence therefore has nothing to do with the demonstrations currently agitating Germany.
Protests against removal of tax break
The video is being shared amid farmers’ protests against the German government, which has presented a plan to remove a tax break on diesel for agricultural vehicles.
The government finally took a step back by announcing that the relief would be phased out over three years, rather than all at once. This was not enough to calm the anger of farmers, who have blocked numerous roads in Germany using their agricultural machinery in recent days. On Thursday, farmers had already prevented a ferry carrying the Minister of the Economy from docking to protest against this plan.
These demonstrations find a particular echo in conspiracy circles in France, and give rise to several false information on social networks. Like the rumor that France will “close highways from 8:00 a.m. on January 9 in solidarity with German farmers,” discussed in a previous verification article.