The head of the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Kramer, warns against the radicalization of larger population groups. There is disinhibition on the left and right spectrum. Chancellor Scholz called for social cohesion.
In recent weeks, attacks on politicians have made headlines several times. In view of this violence, the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer, warned against the radicalization of various groups.
“It’s not just from the right, but also from the left when we look at how left-wing extremists act violently against actors from the right-wing spectrum,” he said Report from Berlin. Even if you look at the demonstrations about Israel and the violent riots at universities, you see that “both camps basically give each other nothing.”
Kramer rejects AfD representation
Kramer defended himself against allegations by the AfD that attacks on them were being ignored. Both in the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia and in other countries it is pointed out that there are a particularly high number of bodily harm crimes against AfD politicians. The police also do this.
Radicalization and disinhibition exist in the left and right spectrum and the constitutional state must contain this. “It not only affects elected officials, but also people who are involved in civil society in singing clubs and sports clubs. Anyone who takes a stand suddenly has to deal with corresponding attacks and threats and intimidation.”
Clear criticism of politics
Kramer also emphasized that the attacks were not completely surprising and recalled Henriette Reker and Walter Lübcke. Reker, now mayor of Cologne, was seriously injured during the election campaign in 2015. The CDU politician and Kassel district president Lübcke was murdered by a right-wing extremist in 2019.
When looking for the causes of radicalization, Kramer pointed out in the ARD also on politics:
I think we need a different style of politics. We also need a different culture of debate and how we treat each other. So when, on the one hand, Mr Gauland, for example, talks about ‘they want to hunt them down’ or Andrea Nahles says ‘starting tomorrow there will be a punch in the face’, then you shouldn’t be surprised that this resonates with the citizens or rather that you say: ‘Well, if you can do it, then we can do it too’.
The AfD politician Gauland announced in 2017 after his party entered the Bundestag that he would “hunt” the federal government and Ms. Merkel. The then SPD parliamentary group leader Nahles also spoke in 2017 of wanting to “give the new government a run for its money”. Both statements sparked heated debates.
Many people felt patronized and not included, says Kramer. He also sees that there are attempts in politics to counteract this. “But obviously that doesn’t resonate with the citizens.”
Scholz calls for more cohesion
Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for social cohesion. Violence threatens democracy, he said on Saturday at an event organized by the Editorial Network Germany. “That’s why we have to stand together as citizens and say we won’t put up with this.”
Of course, the security organs would have to do something: “It doesn’t work without the police and also not without the intelligence services.” But it doesn’t work “without us”.
Attacks in Dresden and Berlin
The European elections will take place in Germany on June 9th as well as local elections in several federal states. What caused horror was an attack on the SPD candidate Matthias Ecke, who was beaten to the point of hospitalization in Dresden. He had to have surgery. In Berlin, after an attack on Economics Senator Franziska Giffey, a suspect was temporarily placed in a psychiatric hospital. AfD politicians have also been the target of attacks on several occasions.