As of: January 23, 2024, 4:49 a.m
By: Hannes Niemeyer
Comments
Press
Split
Markus Söder supports the anti-right demonstrations - his deputy Hubert Aiwanger does not.
The Bavarian Prime Minister refused to make a statement about this on ZDF.
Munich – Germany demonstrates against the right.
On Sunday, more than 400,000 people took to the streets across the country to take a stand against right-wing extremism.
In Munich alone the crowds were so great that the event was canceled.
Tens of thousands of people also came together in several other cities such as Leipzig and Cologne.
People are standing together on the streets, but opinions about the protests differ in the Bavarian state government.
Prime Minister Markus Söder, for example, clearly supports the meetings and described them on his social media channels as a “strong sign for democracy”.
He thanked us for this “clear signal.
“If democrats stick together, extremists have no chance,” Söder continued.
However, he received criticism for not taking part in the protests himself.
Demos against the right: Aiwanger rumbles – Söder evades
In the ZDF morning magazine, Söder had to face the statements of his deputy Aiwanger about the anti-right demonstrations.
© Screenshot / ZDF
His deputy Hubert Aiwanger, however, reacted completely differently.
Already on Friday, when large protests were already taking place in cities like Münster and Hamburg, where the meeting was also canceled because there were too many participants, he was critical of the protests.
According to Aiwanger, the demos were “in many cases infiltrated by left-wing extremists”.
During the farmers' protests, the accusation of infiltration was falsely made.
“I expect all Democrats and the federal government to distance themselves from left-wing extremists,” Aiwanger continued.
Söder then had to face his deputy's comments in a ZDF interview on Monday morning.
In the morning magazine, presenter Dunja Hayali confronted the CSU boss with Aiwanger's statements right at the start.
“Does he have a perception problem?” Hayali asked Söder about Aiwanger’s tweet in a provocative way.
Söder ignored the question, instead praising the “important signal” that the nationwide protests had sent.
At the same time, he called for changes in the current government.
The dissatisfaction with the traffic lights is “an approach for the AfD surveys”.
“You are doing the interview with me”: Hayali pesters Söder on ZDF with Aiwanger’s question – he blocks it
Hayali didn't let up, repeated her question as to why Aiwagner was "directing the spotlight on perhaps a few people and not on the vast majority", just as Söder did with his thanks on social networks.
“You are now conducting the interview with me,” Söder responded defensively.
Of course, there were also attacks on the traffic lights by the organizers in Munich yesterday - and according to Söder, there would also be "completely different people" at "Fridays for Future".
However, the vast majority were “commoners and representatives of the normal middle of society”.
Söder also subsequently preferred to address the traffic light failures.
His appeal: “Stick together, think together and maybe the traffic light will think through all of this again.
You can feel that there is internal rumbling in the traffic lights.
“We now also need a wake-up call for active politics.”
Meanwhile, there was no further statement from Aiwanger, no new statement about the anti-right demonstrations.
Instead, Bavaria's deputy prime minister appeared at a rally of farmers, restaurateurs and craftsmen in the Allgäu.
(han)