The protection of the constitution warns of radical corona protests
Created: 12/21/2021, 9:47 PM
From: Fabian Raddatz
According to the police, almost 800 people demonstrated against the current corona policy in Hanover on Saturday.
© Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees corona demos as a growing intermingling with right-wing extremists.
On Monday evening there were already attacks on the police at two demos.
Hanover - How dangerous are the critics of the corona measures?
The movement of corona deniers and “lateral thinkers” is increasingly mixing up with right-wing extremists and citizens of the Reich in terms of content and personnel - this is the conclusion drawn by the Lower Saxony Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
German country: | Lower Saxony |
Surface: | 47,614 km² |
Population: | 7.982 million (2019) |
Capital city: | Hanover |
Head of Government: | Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) |
Corona protests in Lower Saxony: "Movement is moving to the right" - two police officers attacked during demonstrations
"The movement is migrating to the right and increasingly prefers right-wing parties and attitudes," said Constitutional Protection President Bernhard Witthaut on Tuesday during an analysis of demonstrations and statements by the movement.
Hundreds of people in Lower Saxony took part in the demos again on Monday evening.
Two police officers were attacked.
The protection of the constitution warns of radical corona protest in Lower Saxony: Organized on Telegram
The analysis by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution reveals four ideological elements that the movement believes connect: the belief in conspiracy theories, a reference to esotericism, the rejection of modernity based on a supposedly natural way of life and a narrative of resistance against the state. These overlaps showed that the movement was not only being instrumentalized by right-wing extremists and Reich citizens.
According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, social networks and messenger services, especially Telegram, play a central role in the mixing and radicalization of the scenes.
“We are already clearly seeing a radicalization of the scene.
We have chats in which, in some cases, calls are made to fight our democratic order or openly to use force, ”said Witthaut, striking a notch with Lower Saxony's interior minister Tonne, who recently asked Google and Apple to use the messenger service from their own app stores to remove.
Radical corona protest in Lower Saxony: attacks on the police
Acts of violence from the ranks of the movement are also possible.
An intelligence service clarification of the scene is therefore necessary.
"We have to prevent a mixed scene of right-wing extremists, Reich citizens and corona deniers and lateral thinkers from solidifying, some of which advocate violence as a means of achieving their anti-democratic goals."
At the Corona demos on Monday evening, there were two attacks on the police.
In Celle, where up to 300 people demonstrated, a drunk 59-year-old beat a policewoman to prevent the identity of another participant from being verified.
The officer was slightly injured, according to police.
The unregistered assembly had previously ignored requests to comply with the mask requirement.
30 proceedings for administrative offenses were initiated.
Further corona protests in Lower Saxony: Police officer attacked at an unannounced meeting in Wolfsburg
At a meeting in downtown Wolfsburg, which was also not registered, a police officer was assaulted, the police said.
A complaint was made against the demonstrator.
According to the information, the officer was not injured.
A total of up to 850 participants were counted in the city of Wolfsburg, and local transport was severely restricted at times.
The police described the mood as partially irritable.
Most of the participants remained peaceful.
There was also a lateral thinker demo in Wildeshausen, which promptly sparked a countermovement.
This in turn recognizes that it is a "loud minority that is drifting to the right".
Around 300 demonstrators each gathered in Delmenhorst and Hameln, around 200 in Salzgitter. In Wilhelmshaven, where around 150 people joined the protest, the police initiated 35 proceedings for violations of the Corona requirements.
In other places, demonstrations will become more and more the rule than the exception, as the tightened corona rules after the resolutions at the Prime Minister's Conference will probably not meet with much approval in the scene.
Radical corona protests: There are also counter-demonstrations
In some places there were also counter demonstrations against the corona protests.
Almost 500 people met in Nienburg under the motto “Nienburg is colorful”.
According to the police, there were speeches and music as well as a human chain, the demonstration was peaceful.
There was no meeting with the around 300 participants in a simultaneous corona protest.
Politicians in Lower Saxony have been following the corona demos with concern for a long time and fear a radicalization of vaccination opponents and critics of the protective measures.
"The hard core of these troops that are on the move are not just corona deniers and vaccination skeptics or fearful, but they are people who reject the state," said Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) a week ago.
In Lower Saxony, the corona measures have meanwhile been tightened in the course of the Omikron variant, a lockdown light comes in connection with warning level 3. Prime Minister Weil has already declared warning level 3 at Christmas time.
In addition, there is an FFP2 mask requirement in retail.
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