Strobl on radical protest: "This is how terror begins"
Created: 01/07/2022, 4:31 PM
Thomas Strobl (CDU), Interior Minister of Baden-Württemberg, speaks to journalists in the state parliament.
© Bernd Weißbrod / dpa / archive image
Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) has accused radical opponents of the Corona policy of demolishing democracy.
"Anyone who wanders through cities under the guise of a walk with lights, who abuses freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration, even uses violence against those who literally turn their heads for the protection of these rights, crosses a red line, leaves the common ground of the Democracy, which is demolishing our democracy, ”said Strobl to the magazine“ Focus Online ”on Friday.
Stuttgart - “Incidentally, anyone who marches in front of the residences of politicians also crosses a red line.
This is how terror begins, that is psychological terror.
I condemn that in the strongest possible terms, it doesn't work at all. "
At the beginning of December, opponents of the corona policy protested with torches and posters in front of the home of Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs, Petra Köpping (SPD) in Grimma, Saxony.
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Strobl warned against the willingness to use violence spilling over onto moderate critics of the corona policy.
He appealed to the peaceful demonstration participants to distance themselves “unequivocally from intellectual arsonists, from extremists, from conspiracy ideologues, from lawbreakers who are even willing to use violence”.
In view of the increasing radicalization of the protests, he called for more intensive monitoring of the Internet.
In particular, so-called social media, such as the Telegram messenger service, need to be looked at more closely.
"The federal government is not only allowed to talk here, it has to act very quickly," he said.
dpa