As of: February 14, 2024, 8:53 p.m
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Farmers dumped a pile of dung in front of the stairs to the hall in Biberach.
© David Nau/dpa
The Greens in Biberach actually want to have a pointed debate at their political Ash Wednesday.
But because a protest escalated in front of the hall, this didn't happen.
Biberach - The noise in front of the Biberach town hall is deafening, dozens of tractors are honking, music is echoing across the square - so loud that it is no longer possible to understand exactly what the hundreds of demonstrators are actually shouting.
Farmers dumped a pile of dung in front of the stairs to the hall, with Green Party election posters on it, which the demonstrators marked with “empty promises”.
The crowd repeatedly chants “Get out, get out” in the direction of the hall. The mood is aggressive, journalists are insulted as a “lying press”.
A little later, the Greens' political Ash Wednesday was canceled.
The reason: security concerns.
It is not possible to say exactly who is standing there.
According to the police, the protests have not been registered; officials cannot say who called for them.
A police spokesman also has no information about possible extremist forces among them.
For example, you can also see flags of the Kingdom of Prussia.
The first demonstrators are on the move early: the horn concerts began early in the morning at 3:30 a.m. and gunfire could be heard again and again, said the non-party mayor of Biberach, Norbert Zeidler.
According to him, emergency services are prevented from passing through and helpers are harassed.
Fires are also lit in front of the town hall, Bengalos are burned, and paving stones are removed from the sidewalk.
“The mood was very angry, hostile and aggressive,” Zeidler later said.
“It wasn’t about discussion or protest, it was just about turmoil.”
The anger of the demonstrators is directed against the guests of the political Ash Wednesday, to which the Baden-Württemberg Greens have traditionally invited people to Biberach for years.
This year, Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir, Federal President Ricarda Lang, veteran Jürgen Trittin and Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann have announced their participation.
The only thing they can't get through to is Trittin, and there are dozens of tractors on the access roads.
Kretschmann turns away again on the way there, Özdemir discusses with farmers at a registered demonstration nearby and perceives the mood there as fair and decent.
“The fact that it gets louder is part of it, you have to endure that,” he says later.
But things don't stop there in the area around the Biberach town hall.
As a limousine and a police support vehicle try to drive away from the hall, dozens of demonstrators stream out, block the street and throw paving stones and sandbags onto the road.
Police officers push back the crowd, throwing objects at them and using pepper spray and batons against the demonstrators.
Several officers were slightly injured, a police spokesman said later.
A window of the support vehicle is also broken.
At least one person is arrested.
There are only a handful of people in the hall itself, many visitors are still waiting in front of the hall, which has been cordoned off by the police.
It is not so easy to say who wants to go to Ash Wednesday and who will be among the demonstrators.
About half an hour after the actually planned start, the chairman of the Biberach district association, Michael Gross, canceled the event.
He cites the aggressive mood of the demonstrators as the reason.
The party says that it is not possible to carry out political Ash Wednesday properly.
The Green Party state leader Lena Schwelling criticized the behavior of the demonstrators shortly after the cancellation.
“In front of the hall, no one is willing to have a dialogue.
“It’s just a matter of preventing the event - using methods that are beyond the limit,” says Schwelling.
If car windows were smashed, that would be problematic.
Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz (Greens), who is not in Biberach, writes on warned of violence in the afternoon: “When people are intimidated, city life is massively disrupted and police forces are attacked, a limit has been crossed.”
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Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann clearly criticizes the incidents.
“This harms the concerns of farmers and our political culture, which is always geared towards compromise and balance,” said the Green politician, according to a spokeswoman.
Democracy thrives on the factual debate of arguments and on fair and constructive dialogue.
“Anyone who ignores and violates these rules of the game leaves the legitimate space of democratic protest.
This threshold was exceeded several times in Biberach today,” said Kretschmann.
There is also clear criticism from other parties.
CDU state leader Manuel Hagel is calling on farmers to protest peacefully.
“The fact that the Greens’ political Ash Wednesday in Biberach could not take place today as planned is unacceptable,” says Hagel in Fellbach.
The dissatisfaction of farmers, craftsmen and logisticians with the federal government is legitimate, but he also caveats: “When it comes to protests, moderation always applies.
It must always remain peaceful and non-violent.” SPD state leader Andreas Stoch calls the cancellation in Biberach an absolute no-go.
“Dissent is part of our democracy, and so is discussion.
Only those who have no arguments throw stones.
This is the language of those who disregard our democratic principles,” says Stoch.
Trittin tells the “taz” (Thursday) that the police in Baden-Württemberg have to ask themselves serious questions “why they were not in a position to secure an event organized by their own Prime Minister so that it could take place.”
In the afternoon, Interior Minister Thomas Strobl offered the Interior Committee to report on the events at the next meeting.
“Anyone who throws fire at police officers and emergency vehicles and hinders a democratic party in exercising its fundamental rights is clearly crossing a line,” the CDU minister said.
Agriculture Minister Özdemir later defended the farmers.
“Those who have now gone overboard are not German agriculture.
“It was individuals who behaved like that,” said the Green politician after a previously planned conversation with representatives of farmers’ associations.
The demonstrators would have done agriculture and agricultural concerns a disservice.
Farmers' associations also distance themselves from the protests.
These have nothing to do with the Biberach district farmers' association, says its chairman Karl Endriß.
It was a shame that the Greens had to cancel their event because of this.
The vice president of the state farmers' association, Roswitha Geyer-Fäßler, explains: “Where verbal derailments, threats or even violence have been emanating from rally participants, we as a farmers' association clearly distance ourselves from such incidents.
We have always stood and continue to stand for peaceful and democratic protest.” The association adheres to the law, the law and the rules of the game for demonstrations - and has not called for the protests, the statement says.
“Personal attacks, insults, threats, coercion or even violence are a no-go for us!”
Farmers across Germany have been protesting for weeks against the federal government's austerity plans, particularly against the planned cuts in agricultural diesel.
During a protest at the beginning of January, farmers prevented Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) from leaving a ferry after he returned from a private trip to Hallig Hooge.
According to the shipping company, the ship was almost stormed.
The background to the protests was the planned cuts in subsidies.
dpa