As of: February 16, 2024, 3:31 p.m
By: Erkan Pehlivan
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A Green Party meeting on Ash Wednesday in Biberach had to be canceled due to tractor blockades.
The police union is calling for quick action.
Frankfurt – The escalating farmers' protests should have consequences.
The chairman of the police union (GdP), Jochen Kopelke, is now calling for a ban on tractors during demonstrations.
“This has to stop immediately.
We pointed out the dangers of tractors and tractors and appealed to common sense when protesting,” Kopelke told the
Rheinische Post
.
The reason for the statements was the cancellation of the Green Party's political Ash Wednesday event in Biberach, Swabia, due to aggressive protests in front of the hall.
Among other things, farmers dumped a pile of dung in front of the steps to the town hall and blocked streets with paving stones and sandbags.
In order to clear the path for vehicles, police officers pushed the crowd back and were pelted with objects.
The security forces used pepper spray and batons.
Three officers were slightly injured during the operation, the Ulm police headquarters said.
Demonstrators are said to have rejected the offer of talks
Green politicians themselves also criticize the heated atmosphere during such protests.
“Democratic discourse is what defines us – not preventing conversations, not insulting people and not crossing borders,” said Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt on
Deutschlandfunk
on Thursday .
The Green politician warned against forms of protest that made dialogue impossible.
Farmers protest in front of the town hall in Biberach in the run-up to the Greens' political Ash Wednesday.
© dpa/David Nau
“I find it really absurd that we live in a free democracy and it is not possible to engage in a democratic discourse,” said Göring-Eckardt.
The Greens made the demonstrators in Biberach an offer to talk.
Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir took part in the debate.
Preventing talks is an “absolute indictment”.
CDU Prime Minister calls protest “aggressive” and “intimidating”
Representatives of other parties also defended the Greens.
If protest is so “aggressive” and “intimidating” that events have to be canceled, then “boundaries have been exceeded,” emphasized North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU).
“We all have to get back to treating each other with respect when protests need to be expressed.”
Some of the participants now have to fear criminal consequences.
A spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior said that the police had initiated investigations against several suspects for various crimes.
The Ulm police headquarters have set up an investigation team for this purpose.
“This is working at full speed to process and prosecute the crimes and violations,” said the spokesman.
(erpe/dpa)