Demonstrators throw eggs at Baerbock – and call for “Greens to the front”
Created: 05/10/2022 05:21
By: Magdalena von Zumbusch
Annalena Baerbock supports the Greens' election campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia.
© IMAGO/YingTang
The promise of new arms deliveries from Germany to Ukraine caused an uproar in the lateral thinker scene.
Angry demonstrators react to the foreign minister.
Düsseldorf - At election campaign events in North Rhine-Westphalia in the past few weeks, there have been protests by "lateral thinkers" and citizens who loudly expressed their criticism of the federal government's arms deliveries to Ukraine.
On May 7th and 8th, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) supported her party's North Rhine-Westphalia representatives at election campaign appearances in various North Rhine-Westphalian cities.
A new state parliament will be elected in NRW next Sunday and the Greens are at 14 percent in current polls.
In the Greens election campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia: protests against the government's commitment to arms deliveries to Ukraine
There had already been protests in Cologne on Saturday, and they continued on Sunday at an election campaign event in Wuppertal.
When the Greens appeared with top candidate Mona Neubaur on Laurentiusplatz in Wuppertal, according to media reports ( e.g.
Spiegel
and WRD), Baerbock was even pelted with eggs on Sunday afternoon (May 8) – although not hit.
According to media reports, security officials protected the politician from further attacks with a transparent shield after the first few eggs were thrown.
According to Der Spiegel
, it was just an egg attack
.
The Green politician commented on the incident on stage with the words that she thinks the "power of words" will prevail against throwing eggs.
Baerbock appearance: Demonstrators accuse the party of "warmongering" and demand: "Greens to the front"
The protesters had previously disrupted the event with the slogans "Greens to the front" and "War mongers".
And thus apparently want to express their displeasure with arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Before the start of the war, arms deliveries to Ukraine by Germany were still rejected by a majority of Germans.
The commitment also currently has many opponents - even outside of the lateral thinker scene.
Even without throwing more eggs, the demonstrators caused unrest during the election campaign before the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia: According to
Spiegel
, police officers finally had to separate hundreds of counter-demonstrators from the Greens' event on Cologne's Heumarkt.