Protests against Corona policy: the Office for the Protection of the Constitution warns of new enemies of the state

As of: 01/15/2022 4:41 p.m

Opponents of the Corona policy are taking to the streets again this weekend. President for the Protection of the Constitution Haldenwang recognizes among them a new scene of enemies of the state. They connect the contempt of the rule of law.

The President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, has identified a new scene of enemies of the state among the opponents of the Corona policy. These are characterized by the fact that they are not connected by ideological brackets, but by contempt for the democratic constitutional state and its representatives, Haldenwang told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” according to a preliminary report.

“They fundamentally reject our democratic state,” said the head of the intelligence agency. The pandemic is “just the hanger”. “Whether it’s Corona or refugee policy. Or the flood disaster: you saw some of the same people trying to give the impression that the state was failing and not doing anything for the people.”

Influence of right-wing extremists is increasing

Haldenwang also described “increasing parallels between ‘Pegida’ and the ‘Corona walks'”. The same slogans were sometimes shouted at the demonstrations. For a long time it looked as if right-wing extremists were trying to shape the demonstration, but without success. “This is currently shifting,” explained the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution: In Saxony, for example, the small right-wing extremist party “Free Saxony” had succeeded in exerting a significant influence on the multifaceted protest movement in the region.

Haldenwang expressed the fear that the extremists of this new scene could look for a new topic after the end of the pandemic in order to exploit it for their purposes. This could be government measures to protect the climate, for example: “An intensification of government measures to curb climate change could be perceived as unlawful and rejected.”

Söder sees division of society

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder warned of a division in society in view of the protests against the Corona policy. It is not split into two equal parts, but it is divided. “A small group of lateral thinkers with very abstruse arguments, a large group of very cautious people, but also some who have followed all the rules but are exhausted and tired and are beginning to doubt the sense of some regulations,” said the CSU politician .

Opponents of the Corona requirements have called for protests in many German cities for the weekend. At the same time, resistance is forming against them – in Hamburg, for example, more than 1,000 people took to the streets to protest against conspiracy ideologies and corona deniers.

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