Anti-vaccination protests
Ramelow warns against the destruction of trust in institutions
Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow sees the protests, some of which are violent, by those who oppose the vaccination with concern. Photo: Martin Schutt / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Some opponents of the corona policy attack police officers and vaccination centers, politicians are threatened, the government defamed. Thuringia Prime Minister Ramelow warns of the consequences of such a development.
In view of the sometimes violent protests against the Corona measures, Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left) has warned against the destruction of trust in state institutions.
If the demonstrations were against state protective measures, police officers and vaccination centers as well as medical staff were attacked, then it was no longer about protecting the population, but about despising state institutions and systematically destroying trust in institutions and also in health facilities -Welfare, “said Ramelow the news magazine” Der Spiegel “.
In several German cities there were again demonstrations by opponents of the corona policy at the weekend. In Greiz, East Thuringia, outbreaks of violence occurred, in which 14 police officers were injured. A policewoman had to be treated in a hospital in the meantime.
Ramelow told the “Spiegel” that to chant to be against dictatorship, but to be able to shout it night after night, was “an obvious contradiction in terms”.
Increasingly “anti-democratic tones”
The North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul expressed concern about the extremist part of the protesters. “They are extremely dangerous because they meanwhile not only talk, gossip, incite each other, but also take action,” said the CDU politician in the “Bild” show “The right questions”.
Right-wing extremists would increasingly abuse the protests for their own purposes. There are increasingly “anti-democratic tones, unconstitutional tones”. That worries him very much. That is why he can only advise all democrats “that we say together: Now is the end, there is a limit here.”
Thuringia’s Interior Minister Georg Maier also warned in the “Bild” talk: “We as a society have to find a very clear language.” A small minority is becoming “louder and louder, more and more radical,” said the SPD politician. Right-wing extremists took advantage of this. The minister criticized calls to publish the addresses of politicians as “perfidious and unbearable”, “so that they no longer have a good life”.
«Noticeable» radicalization
Terrorism expert Peter Neumann also did not rule out terrorist dangers from these protests. “What we have already seen in isolated cases are more complex attacks on the RKI, for example, or on clinics and vaccination centers.” He could therefore imagine “that in a few months we may actually have to speak of a terrorist campaign,” Neumann said on the program.
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas also noted a “noticeable” radicalization in the protests. “That is definitely a threat to our democracy,” said the SPD politician on the ZDF program “Berlin direkt”. She called for a ban on demonstrations in front of the private houses of politicians and closer observation of Telegram chat groups. Many critics of Corona measures network via the messenger service.
SPD parliamentary group vice-president Dirk Wiese spoke of an “advancing radicalization of a small minority”. This must be met with “the absolute attention of the security authorities”, he told the “world”. Wiese warned: “We are experiencing an organized attempt to divide and rush.”
«Don’t leave the road to radicals»
Green parliamentary deputy Konstantin von Notz considers the increasing radicalization of the protests to be “more than frightening”. For too long, Reich citizens and so-called lateral thinkers had been dismissed as harmless, but one had to “position oneself resolutely as a democracy,” demanded von Notz in the “Welt”. FDP parliamentary group deputy Konstantin Kuhle warned: “Every individual has a responsibility to stay away from militant groups.” Union parliamentary group Vice Thorsten Frei (CDU) underlined: “In this situation, the state must by no means appear weak.”
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig called for “not leaving the road to the radicals”. “Many have very different goals than Corona, they use the emotional debate about the compulsory vaccination to divide,” said the SPD politician of the “Bild” newspaper. Democratic decisions must be accepted by everyone. «Our democracy has to build a firewall against violence here. Our society and the state have to stand up to the splitters and corona agitators. Because in the end they not only threaten politicians, but all of us. “