Police keep an eye on “lateral thinkers” in the disaster area

Ahrweiler is one of the places particularly affected by the flood disaster.

It is precisely there that so-called lateral thinkers and right-wing extremists gather.

The police keep an eye on it.

Koblenz - In the disaster area on the Ahr, the police are keeping an eye on possible activities by right-wing extremists and the so-called "lateral thinkers" scene.

"We know about the presence from the social media and are of course also present on site," said a police spokesman on Wednesday of the German press agency. Don't look the other way. “If people from this spectrum present themselves there in public, that doesn't pass us by. We are evaluating it from the police. ”On Tuesday, the Koblenz police stated on Twitter that they knew that right-wing extremists were currently posing as“ carers on site ”.

The spokesman said on Wednesday that the authorities were aware that Ahrweiler, which was particularly hard hit by the floods, was moving a police-like car with the label "Peace Vehicle". "Such a paint job is not forbidden, as long as there is no police on it, it does not have a blue light or a sovereign police coat of arms," ​​said the spokesman. According to the police, the false report was spread from this vehicle on Tuesday that the number of emergency services would be reduced. The police are still in the disaster area without interruption.

Political scientist Josef Holnburger said that one of the things that was going on was to sow distrust of the state with this vehicle.

He was not surprised that there were rights in Ahrweiler.

“They like to portray themselves as hands-on.” Rather new to this area are people from the “lateral thinker” scene.

"It has now become a complete solidarity," said Holnburger.

According to information from security circles, prominent representatives of the "lateral thinkers" movement who had previously been noticed during corona protests were also involved in the actions in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in the past few days.

In the field of view of the authorities in the disaster area is a retired colonel who showed himself in uniform.

However, the Bundeswehr itself has no way of dealing with civilians who wear uniform.

The President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, recently stated that the corona protests had declined. However, certain protagonists have not disappeared, not least from the spectrum of “Reich citizens and self-administrators”, who continue to spread various conspiracy theories. These rejected democratically made decisions and aimed at "permanently shaking trust in state institutions and their representatives". dpa