Before the next round of farmers’ protests announced, Bavaria’s SPD leader Florian von Brunn is calling on the police to take consistent action against crimes and legal violations. He understands that the farmers want to protest and thereby exercise their important basic right, “but of course there should not be double standards when it comes to protesting farmers and the last generation,” von Brunn told the German Press Agency on Thursday.
The farmers’ association is planning several tractor rallies in Bavaria in a nationwide week of protests against planned subsidy cuts by the federal government. A rally is planned in Munich to kick off next Monday, as the Bavarian Farmers’ Association announced on its website. According to the Interior Ministry, 5,000 participants are expected. Protests should then take place in Augsburg on January 10th and in Nuremberg on the 12th. The demonstration in Hammelburg, Lower Franconia on Tuesday evening showed that the willingness to protest goes very far and also affects many citizens, it said. The police and law enforcement authorities must therefore take consistent action against possible crimes and threats.
With a view to the announced protests and strikes on January 8th, von Brunn stated that he had “indications that the protesting farmers are planning to block highways.” That’s why he asked the Interior Ministry at Christmas whether the authorities and police in Bavaria had corresponding information and to what extent they were prepared for motorway blockages and possible crimes and legal violations. “If such evidence is reliable, will police measures – such as detention – be examined in order to prevent possible crimes such as coercion?”
In the past, the police in Bavaria had taken climate activists into so-called preventative custody to prevent protests. According to the Police Duties Act, citizens can be detained for up to one month following a court decision in order to prevent the commission of an administrative offense of significant importance to the public – such as blocking important roads – or a criminal offense. This period may be extended for a maximum of one additional month. The domestic policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Christiane Feichtmeier, said: “There is no free pass for illegal protests for anyone! Even during the farmers’ protests, rescue workers must not be hindered.”
The head of the CSU parliamentary group, Klaus Holetschek, accused the SPD of criminalizing farmers before the announced week of protests had even begun. “The CSU, on the other hand, stands firmly and with great solidarity on the side of our agriculture, which has to fight for its existence due to the traffic light policy. Protest within a democratic framework is legitimate and necessary in order to highlight massive political mistakes in Berlin.”