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Demo chaos in Leipzig: who draws the consequences?
Photo:
Sebastian Kahnert / dpa
The chaotic demo day in Leipzig sparked a debate about possible political consequences.
Numerous politicians accuse the Leipzig police and the Saxon Interior Minister Roland Wöller of failure - but there are also voices who reject such criticism.
Left, Greens and SPD in Saxony are demanding that the events be dealt with in a special meeting of the Interior Committee.
"An obvious planning disaster resulted in the state in Leipzig capitulating to enemies of democracy and unable to enforce the right of assembly or effectively counter attacks on counter-protest, journalists and the police," said the domestic political spokesman for the Green parliamentary group Valentin Lippmann .
The left spoke of "state failure".
"The freedom to demonstrate is not a freedom to use violence and to put others at massive risk"
Federal Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht
At the "lateral thinking" demonstration in downtown Leipzig on Saturday, thousands of people ignored the hygiene rules and other requirements.
After the rally broke up, crowds of people moved through the city, although this was prohibited.
The police, which was deployed with 2,700 officers, held back and let the demonstrators have their way.
The authorities recorded a total of 102 criminal offenses with 89 suspects, 13 provisional arrests and 18 detentions as well as 140 misdemeanors for violating the Corona Protection Ordinance and the right of assembly.
The Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Bautzen had only allowed the demonstration with a maximum of 16,000 participants in the city center on Saturday morning.
The city had wanted to move the rally to a large fair car park on the outskirts to protect against infection.
The reasons why the court overturned this requirement is not yet known.
The Chairman of the Conference of Interior Ministers, Georg Maier, has now called for consequences for comparable future events.
"We have to prepare for the future to intervene much more consistently, much harder and earlier in such gatherings," said the Thuringian SPD minister in the ARD.
"Then I need more staff on the spot to break up a meeting like that."
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas put it even more clearly: "The Basic Law guarantees the right to demonstrate," wrote the SPD politician on Twitter.
"But anyone who, as in Leipzig, endangers fellow human beings, attacks police officers and journalists, spreads right-wing extremist agitation or sets fire to barricades during counter-demonstrations, leaves the scope of this fundamental right."
Criticism?
"Unobjective and completely absurd"
Federal Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht called for a "thorough investigation" of the escalated rally.
"The freedom to demonstrate is not a freedom to use violence or to put others at massive risk," said the SPD politician.
Thousands close together without masks are a peak of irresponsibility and egoism in a pandemic.
Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) also condemned "recklessness and hubris at a time when an open eye shows the dangers of the virus."
At the same time he announced a processing of the event.
Interior Minister Roland Wöller defended the criticized police strategy.
The police officers' passive behavior ensured a largely peaceful demonstration and prevented violent clashes.
"Now to accuse the police of having failed is irrelevant and completely absurd".
A "use of coercion against senior citizens or water cannons against children" was not an option, according to Wöller.
However, he did not go into the fact that apart from the "lateral thinking" demo and especially after its resolution, violence and chaotic scenes did occur.
Inquiries from journalists were not possible during the press briefing.
Wöller received support from Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.
"We have to stop questioning the police's tactics in retrospect without knowing the details and without a complete picture via remote diagnosis," said a statement by the CSU politician.
"The police have my full backing."
The Leipzig police chief Torsten Schultze also defended the police action.
The operation had ensured a largely peaceful course, but the implementation of the protection against infection had not succeeded.
"You don't fight a pandemic with police means, but only with the common sense of the people," he said.
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mxw / dpa