The interior ministers of the federal and state governments are very concerned about current developments in the corona protest scene. Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Boris Pistorius sees the AfD as a factor that contributes to radicalization. “It is clearly a danger to this democracy,” said the SPD politician on Friday at a meeting of interior ministers in Stuttgart.
The party is trying to capitalize on the Corona crisis “by having its local branches set up these organized non-registered meetings, some of which are local MPs who do that,” criticized Pistorius. In Lower Saxony, the number of participants in corona protests is lower than in some other federal states, but there is an “increase in verbal aggression and assaults”.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said with regard to the protest events: “It is indeed the case that it is increasing, and what is also increasing are the right-wing extremist situations on the ground.” Among the protesters are conspiracy theorists, but also people who are against compulsory vaccination, “and that is their right too”.
However, it can be observed that right-wing extremists are increasingly abusing the resentment for their own purposes. It is about a “rebellion against the state”. Baden-Württemberg Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) emphasized: “Decent citizens do not take part in prohibited demonstrations.”