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Thomas Strobl (CDU), Interior Minister of Baden-Württemberg, takes his place in the state parliament before a meeting of the Interior Committee on the tumult surrounding the political Ash Wednesday of the Alliance 90/The Greens party in Biberach.
© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa
After the police operation during the riots before the Greens' political Ash Wednesday, Interior Minister Strobl is available to answer questions.
The criticism is sharp.
Strobl cannot understand this.
Biberach - A week after the riots before the Greens' political Ash Wednesday in Biberach, Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) defended himself against opposition criticism of the police operation.
While speakers from the SPD, FDP and Greens saw Strobl as responsible for planning and operations, the minister for his part rejected allegations against himself and the police in the state parliament's interior committee.
“I can’t see that the police headquarters’ operational planning can be criticized in any way,” said Strobl on Wednesday.
“I fully support this plan.”
There was no information before the event that would have suggested an unpeaceful course of events, said the CDU minister.
Nevertheless, due to the recent nationwide protests by farmers, the police initially planned to have 90 officers.
That was about ten times as many as were planned for all other Ash Wednesday events on that day.
“The police were sufficiently prepared,” said Strobl.
According to the Interior Minister, around 700 people tried to get into the Biberach town hall uncontrolled around 8:45 a.m. the morning before the event.
This was prevented by the police, said Strobl.
However, he also emphasized that the decision to cancel was made by the organizer.
“From the police point of view, the event could have been carried out with the existing options,” said the Interior Minister.
But the rejection was understandable.
The opposition sees this clearly differently.
SPD interior expert Sascha Binder accused Strobl and Ulm's police chief Bernhard Weber of shifting responsibility for the cancellation.
Oliver Hildenbrand from the Green Party criticized that in view of burning haystacks and a rattling chainsaw, the organizers were quite right to question whether the event could be held without danger and concerns.
The Greens canceled their traditional meeting last Wednesday in Biberach at short notice due to security concerns after a demonstration got out of hand.
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.
The window of a vehicle accompanying Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) was also broken.
Police Commissioner Weber emphasized to the committee that this was “definitely and demonstrably not caused by a police officer”.
According to Strobl, a total of around 200 police officers were deployed in Biberach to fend off the protests.
The Interior Minister spoke of a “new quality of aggressiveness” by the protesters.
The protesters were a heterogeneous crowd, but there were also participants who were assigned to the “Reichsbürger” and “lateral thinkers” scenes.
According to the Interior Ministry, more than a dozen investigations have been initiated against those suspected of being involved following the riots.
From the point of view of the state parliament opposition, however, the preparation for the operation was not sufficient - and the parties see responsibility for the cancellation primarily at Strobl.
“Those who wanted to prevent this meeting from occurring achieved that goal and you did not stop them,” Binder said.
If a democratic party cannot hold a meeting the way it wants, then that is not the party's problem, but the interior minister's problem.
“Something like this should never have happened in Baden-Württemberg,” said Binder.
The FDP's domestic policy spokeswoman, Julia Goll, accused Strobl of a "reflexive defensive attitude".
“I have the impression we’re not getting anywhere with this.”
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On behalf of the Greens, their interior expert Hildenbrand criticized the fact that the number of police officers had been underestimated before the operation and then increased too slowly over the course of the morning.
In addition to Strobl, the Ulm police chief also contradicted this.
Officers from the surrounding police stations were initially called and were quickly available.
Additional reinforcements were already on site at 8 a.m. and more followed.
“People need to be informed, upgraded and get started.
“It doesn’t happen that quickly,” said Weber.
dpa