High inflation, Corona, the energy price explosion and the consequences of the war against Ukraine – all of this makes it understandable for the head of the state secret service that people in Thuringia are taking to the streets. Still, he warns.
Erfurt (dpa/th) – The Thuringian protection of the constitution warns that the protests, for example against high energy prices, will be taken over by extremists. They have been using crises for a long time to present themselves as “takers”, said Stephan Kramer, chief of the authorities. Currently, “extremists are closing ranks with one another”. There is a considerable danger “that right-wing extremist worldviews will reinforce each other”. Kramer went on to say: “The only thing that really agrees is that we want to mobilize a critical mass to overcome our democracy.”
In some places in Thuringia, right-wing extremists and “Reich citizens” as well as other people with anti-constitutional goals regularly called for protests, said the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Some of these are announced, but some are unannounced.
Most recently, people took to the streets in many German cities, especially on Mondays, to demonstrate, for example, against corona policy, high energy prices, inflation and sanctions against Russia.
Kramer advised protesters to find out more about the organizers beforehand. “If a group calls for a protest online, you can certainly ask how the organizers want to deal with extremists and/or how they feel about our democracy,” he said. If this discussion is refused or trivialized, caution is advised.
For people who understandably wanted to take their concerns and displeasure about Corona and the consequences of the war against Ukraine to the streets, it was “not immediately clear what the people involved are actually taking to the streets for or against,” said the constitutional protection officer. “Some do it to criticize government policies. Others do it because they would rather abolish our democracy today than tomorrow.” The latter is a clear case for the protection of the constitution, said Kramer.
Kramer said it was difficult to predict how the protests would develop. In the past four weeks there have been indications that more people are taking part in protests again. And unfortunately it is also clear that extremists “have worked intensively on their networking and on their approach and are again pushing into the front row of the protests,” said Kramer.
