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The police surround an unauthorized elevator in Freiberg, Saxony
Photo: B & S / Bernd März / imago images / Bernd März
They had positioned themselves with torches in front of the private house of the Saxon Minister of Health Petra Köpping (SPD) and made loud noise: A little more than two dozen opponents of the Saxon corona policy marched in Grimma on Friday.
Now the federal government has condemned the "torch protest" in the strongest possible terms.
"What happened in front of the house of the Saxon Minister of Health, this march, is deeply outrageous," said government spokesman Steffen Seibert.
"This is not only an attack on the privacy of Ms. Köpping, the minister, it is also an attack on democracy."
The protesters are evidently members and sympathizers of the right-wing extremist organization "Free Saxony".
A video on Twitter shows how people gather in front of the house and chant "Peace, freedom, no dictatorship".
They make noise with drums and whistles.
Government spokesman Seibert classified the protests against Köpping as attempts to "intimidate".
The demonstrators "wanted nothing but scare," he said.
There should be "no place in the democratic debate about the right path in this pandemic".
"Organized Intimidation"
Over the weekend, politicians across party lines had already expressed their horror at the action.
"That reminds me of the darkest chapters of our German history," said the still incumbent Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) of "Bild am Sonntag".
It was "organized intimidation of a state representative," he said.
Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) spoke of "methods invented by the SA" in memory of the NSDAP's fighting organization.
The authorities would have to take a firm stand against such demonstrators.
"Against them we will know how to prove ourselves to be a defensive democracy."
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil said at the party conference in Berlin that the limits of freedom of expression had been exceeded here.
It could not be that politicians were threatened and that "right-wing conspirators and oathers" gathered with torches in front of the house of a minister.
"Disgusting and indecent"
Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) wrote on Twitter after the incident in Grimma: "We oppose all forces that want to intimidate."
Köpping himself also found clear words.
Objective criticism of the corona measures was completely legitimate, she said, "I'm always ready to talk.
But torch protests in front of my house are disgusting and indecent. "
Köpping said she knew that these were not protests, but organized attempts to intimidate right-wing extremists and conspiracy believers, which unfortunately happened far too often - in front of doctors' offices, at vaccination centers and hospitals, against mayors and other committed people.
Such attempts at intimidation often ended in violence.
This is dangerous for each individual and for cohesion.
mrc / dpa
