It was in January when a group of people appeared in front of the home of Saxony’s Prime Minister, some wore hats in the colors of the Reich flag, others had posters. You wanted to talk to Kretschmer about the corona protective measures. He shoveled snow with his son, but got involved in a discussion. But when Kretschmer felt that he could not penetrate all the crude theories, he broke off the round after 20 minutes.
Now another member of the Saxon state government has received an uninvited visit. The 30 or so people who gathered in Grimma in front of the house of Minister of Social Affairs Petra Köpping (SPD) on Friday evening came with torches, whistles and drums. Köpping describes the elevator as “disgusting and indecent”. The people are concerned with “organized attempts to intimidate right-wing extremists and conspiracy believers”, which unfortunately occur far too often.
There are people who deny Corona everywhere in Germany – but according to a recent study, their share has shrunk compared to 2020 – except in Saxony. After all, one in four thinks the virus is a lie, according to the makers of the study. Saxony is a hotspot for conspiracy myths. The march in front of Köpping’s house shows how much this group has radicalized in the meantime.
At the same time, no federal state is as badly affected by the pandemic as Saxony. A partial lockdown has been in place for a few weeks. Theaters, cinemas and fitness studios are closed – even for those who have been vaccinated. 2G applies in restaurants and shops.
Due to the Corona Protection Ordinance, only stationary rallies are currently allowed. But for weeks there have been marches of hundreds of people in Saxony. Last Monday, almost 1,000 people moved through Freiberg in the Ore Mountains. During the protests there are repeated calls for violence against the Saxon Prime Minister. “Kretschmer has to go” and “Shoot him down”. Journalists are attacked, but so are police officers.
The protests are driven by the “Free Saxons”
“The idea of violent resistance to democratic rules is now one of the typical standard demands of the Corona deniers movement,” warns Dirk-Martin Christian, head of the Saxon Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The participants “from the so-called bourgeois spectrum” did not show any tendencies to “clearly distance themselves from extremists and their anti-constitutional agenda”.
In addition to the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement”, the protests in pandemic times are also driven by the party of the “Free Saxons”. Both are observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Even before the federal election, the “Free Saxons” had asked the Telegram messenger service to “pose” politicians at public appearances. In Freiberg 150 people blocked the driveway to an event by Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer and tried to prevent his company car from leaving. The Saxon top candidate of the CDU, Marco Wanderwitz, was unable to set up his campaign stand in Zwönitz. The SPD canceled an event with Petra Köpping for security reasons.
The number of subscribers to the Telegram channel of the “Free Saxony” has risen rapidly in the past few weeks, now more than 91,000 are reading. Meeting points and times for meetings are published there every week. Saxony’s constitution protection chief Christian describes the “Free Saxons” as a “mobilization machine”.
Telegram also showed the video of the action in front of Köpping’s house, with a note: “The” Free Saxons “are not directly responsible for the protest actions.” One only reports as an expression of the “citizens’ protest”. A legal trick – the boss of the “Free Saxony”, Martin Kohlmann, is a lawyer.
There are at least consequences for those who stood in front of Köpping’s house on Friday evening. When the police arrived, most of them fled. However, the officers stopped 15 cars and determined the identities of 25 people. The police have reported the violation of the Assembly Act and are investigating violations of the Corona Ordinance.
Wöller is more concerned with left-wing extremism
The police have been under criticism for weeks because they are not always so resolute. Either it doesn’t have unannounced accumulations on the screen at all – or sometimes it just lets them run. That was about last Monday in Freiberg. The Chemnitz Police Department had ordered two hundred teams to visit the city. But they treated the “walkers” as if it had been a registered demonstration. The police said it would have taken more officers to break it up. Only towards the end was the identity of the alleged ringleaders established. In Chemnitz Police violently disbanded a registered rally by left-wing demonstrators, however, let participants of the Corona protests go.
The police department has repeatedly argued that the meetings were peaceful and that a dissolution is therefore not advisable. So far, the officials have received backing from Saxony’s Minister of the Interior, Roland Wöller. He thinks: “Violence is not the method of choice.” Unlike the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Corona protests also seem to be less of a concern for the Interior Minister. After the interior ministers’ conference on Friday, his ministry gave one Press release out, which should summarize the main points. Among other things, people smuggling and smuggling Left-wing extremism. During the round, the implementation of the corona controls was actually the topic – there is not a word on this in Wöller’s press release.
The “Free Saxons” have called for demonstrations in Dresden on Monday. The Saxon state parliament wants to vote on whether there is a need for a pandemic situation. Prerequisite for implementing measures from the current Infection Protection Act. Dresden’s police chief has announced a “tougher pace” in advance. There are already Hamburg bars on the parliament building. And this time water cannons should also be used.