Agriculture - SPD: Treat protesting farmers like climate activists
Ahead of the next round of announced farmers' protests, Bavaria's SPD leader Florian von Brunn is calling on the police to take a consistent approach to criminal offenses and violations of the law. He understands that the farmers want to protest and thus exercise their important fundamental right, "but of course there must not be double standards for protesting farmers and the Last Generation", von Brunn told the German Press Agency in Munich on Thursday.
The farmers' association is planning several tractor rallies in Bavaria as part of a nationwide week of protests against planned subsidy cuts by the federal government. A rally in Munich is planned to kick off the week next Monday (January 8), as the Bavarian Farmers' Association announced on its website. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 5000 participants are expected. Protests will then take place in Augsburg on January 10 and in Nuremberg on January 12.
The demonstration in Hammelburg in Lower Franconia on Tuesday evening showed that the willingness to protest goes very far and also affects many citizens, it continued. The police and prosecuting authorities must therefore take consistent action against possible criminal acts and threats.
With regard to the announced protests and strikes on January 8, von Brunn explained that he had "indications that the protesting farmers are planning to block highways". He had therefore already asked the Ministry of the Interior at Christmas whether the authorities and police in Bavaria had any such indications and to what extent they were prepared for freeway blockades and possible criminal acts and violations of the law. "If such information is reliable, are police measures - such as detentions - being examined in order to prevent possible criminal offenses such as coercion?"
In the past, the police in Bavaria have taken climate activists into so-called preventive custody to prevent protests. According to the Police Duties Act, citizens can be detained for up to one month following a judicial decision in order to prevent the commission of an administrative offense of considerable importance to the general public - such as blocking important roads - or a criminal offense. This period can be extended by a maximum of one further month.
Christiane Feichtmeier, spokesperson on domestic policy for the SPD parliamentary group, said: "Nobody gets a free pass for unlawful protests! Even during the farmers' protests, rescue workers must not be obstructed."
The head of the CSU parliamentary group in the state parliament, Klaus Holetschek, accused the SPD of criminalizing the farmers before the announced week of protests had even begun. "The CSU, on the other hand, stands firmly and with great solidarity by the side of our agriculture, some of which is fighting for its existence as a result of the traffic light policy. Protest within a democratic framework is legitimate and necessary to highlight massive political mistakes in Berlin."
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Source: www.stern.de
