After threats against the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) in a Telegram chat group, officials of the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) Saxony search six objects. There are five apartments and one workplace. The searched objects are in Dresden and one in the nearby small town of Heidenau. Six suspects are being investigated on suspicion of a serious criminal offense, said LKA spokesman Tom Bernhardt on Twitter. According to the German Press Agency, a suspect was arrested.
During the searches, the police confiscated weapons, parts of weapons and crossbows. Bernhardt said that it is now being checked whether these weapons can be fired at, i.e. are considered so-called sharp weapons.
“I am glad that the rule of law in the Free State has shown today how defensive it is,” said Kretschmer at noon during a visit to the Leipzig vaccination center. “Threats against public officials, be it mayors, municipal and district administrators, scientists or journalists, are unacceptable, will not be tolerated and will be pursued with all their might.” He announced additional staff “for the fight against extremists”. Everyone should know that in Saxony and Germany you can of course express your opinion – even what you don’t like. “But when violence comes into play, a limit has been crossed, which we will not tolerate.”
Are on the search operations According to Saxony’s Interior Minister Roland Wöller (CDU), 140 officials were involved. The searches had been prepared for a week. “Today there was the big blow,” said Wöller. “I am very grateful that the State Criminal Police Office is working carefully and meticulously for our safety and security.”
According to a report by the ZDF magazine, Telegram was in the communications service Frontal From a week ago death threats against the Prime Minister of Saxony surfaced, among other things in connection with the discussion about a corona vaccination requirement. A group member reportedly claimed in an audio message that they had armed themselves and had ammunition ready. The General Public Prosecutor’s Office in Dresden and the LKA Sachsen then started investigations.
The LKA had announced last week that it was specifically about a Telegram chat group called “Dresden Offline Networking”. There were “in their communication and in conversations at secretly and sometimes openly filmed meetings in the greater Dresden area, statements on murder plans” with regard to Kretschmer and other representatives of the state government. All suspects were members of this Telegram group, confirmed LKA spokesman Bernhardt.
Telegram has become the central forum for militant corona deniers
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) called on the federal government to crack down on Telegram. The Telegram service, based in the United Arab Emirates, has become the central forum for militant corona deniers in Germany, according to the authorities. Söder said Augsburger Allgemeine (Wednesday), Telegram is one of the central means of transport for hatred and agitation on the Internet. “First you have to give Telegram a clear request to eliminate hatred and agitation and to make it legally binding,” he said. If the service does not agree to help, there are also ways to block it.
If Telegram is viewed as a social network, it is subject to the strict regulations of the Network Enforcement Act and the company would be obliged to delete problematic content itself. Telegram, on the other hand, sees itself as an intelligence service.
The death threats had caused outrage among politicians. The chief executive of the association of cities and municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, called for better protection for local politicians from radical opponents of the corona policy. The police protection that federal and state politicians received must also apply to local politicians if there is a corresponding risk, he said Rheinische Post. Landsberg particularly called for more intensive observation of the lateral thinkers by the protection of the constitution.
In his first government declaration in Berlin, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz also sharply opposed hatred and extremist tendencies in the Corona crisis. “We will not put up with the fact that a tiny minority of uninhibited extremists are trying to impose their will on our entire society,” said the SPD politician in the Bundestag. “This tiny minority of the hateful, who attack us all with torch marches, violence and calls for murder, will be countered by all means of our democratic constitutional state.”