Violence during corona demonstrations: Justice Minister Buschmann wants to take action

Created: 01/09/2022, 02:20 PM

From: Astrid Theil

Police officers stand next to participants in the Corona demo in Wolgast.

© Stefan Sauer / dpa

The demonstrations against the federal government's corona policy are getting bigger and sometimes more violent.

Therefore, Federal Justice Minister Buschmann now wants to crack down on the situation.

Berlin - In the past few weeks there have been ever larger and escalating demonstrations against the federal government's corona policy in many cities in Germany.

Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) now wants to crack down on rule violations and violence in corona demonstrations.

"If rules are systematically violated or violent attacks occur, meetings must be dissolved as a last resort, if necessary," said the FDP politician to the newspapers of the

. 

“As a constitutional state, we must under no circumstances accept violence against police officers or journalists.

And if there are legal requirements or requirements, such as wearing masks or keeping your distance, these must of course be complied with, ”stressed Buschmann.

Politicians concerned: radicalization and extremism at corona demonstrations

He advised citizens not to go to corona demonstrations when in doubt.

He justified this with the participation of extremist groups: "Unfortunately, extremists who are not on the basis of the constitution often take part in such demonstrations and try to use the criticism of the Corona measures for their own purposes".

“You should therefore think twice about whether you really want to march alongside such groups,” emphasized Buschmann.

Other politicians also expressed concern in connection with the Corona demonstrations and the lateral thinker movement.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) emphasized to

that the debate between vaccination opponents and corona deniers had lost all proportionality and that this was a new and frightening development in German post-war history.

The designated CDU chairman Friedrich Merz also said in

that there were “notorious violent criminals” among the demonstrators and problematized that previously “normal” people had been carried away by conspiracy theories and fear scenarios “into excesses of hate and violence”.

Nationwide corona demonstrations: 13 thousand demonstrators in Hamburg

Also on Saturday (January 8th) thousands of people took to the streets against the federal government's corona policy *. According to information from the police, the largest demonstration took place in Hamburg. Around 13,700 people demonstrated there. According to the police, there were no major incidents during this demonstration. In other federal states, too, there were sometimes large demonstrations: According to police, up to 8,000 people demonstrated at a registered event in Frankfurt am Main, according to the police there were several thousand in Düsseldorf and up to 6,000 people in Freiburg.

The demonstrations also incriminate the police.

The deputy federal chairman of the police union GdP, Dietmar Schilff, complained about the permanent overload of the security forces in view of the demonstrations.

He told the

that “the police cannot get out of their boots”.

The use at corona demonstrations also represents an increased psychological burden in view of the sometimes aggressive participants *.