Germany's Faeser condemns political violence at Ash Wednesday rallies
Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has condemned aggressive protests against the Green Party which took place on Wednesday in connection with traditional Ash Wednesday political rallies.
"When a political event is prevented by rabble-rousing and violence, when police officers are attacked and stones are thrown, then boundaries have been massively overstepped," Faeser told the media organization Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), in remarks published on Friday.
This aggression has no part in a democratic dispute, she said.
"This is just as true when democrats are defamed as 'traitors to the people,' when a whipped-up mob visits politicians at their homes or when those in power are symbolically hung from gallows," said Faeser.
These are all boundaries crossed, that show a brutalization and poisoning of the discourse.
Following massive farmers' protests during Ash Wednesday, the Green Party cancelled their political rally in the south-western German state of Baden-Württemberg because of security concerns.
According to the police, police officers were injured amid violent behaviour. In addition to Green Party chairwoman Ricarda Lang, Germany's Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir and Baden-Württemberg Premier Winfried Kretschmann were also due to attend the event.
Lang was later booed, insulted and prevented from leaving at another event in Schorndorf near Stuttgart.
Faeser went on to say that political violence does not come out of nowhere, but starts with language.
"Those who verbally pander to radicals only strengthen the radicals that we must fight together from the political centre," she said.
Other states, including Bavaria, saw similar incidents of politically motivated violence.
