Dhe Federal Ministry of Economics is taking action against a video by right-wing extremists that portrays Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) as the culprit in a trial over his party’s sanctions policy. “We have reported the video to Facebook for review under the Network Enforcement Act and removal. We are also checking the facts from a legal point of view,” the ministry said on Monday on request.
The video, which was initially found on at least one Telegram channel of the QAnon conspiracy movement on Monday, shows a man in a red and orange prison suit with a sack over his head and handcuffs in a vehicle. The person is obviously intended to represent Habeck. A voice can be heard announcing an alleged verdict: “You, Robert Habeck, are sentenced by the people to 16 weeks in the pillory on the local market square.”
At the end of the video, a demonstration in Heidenau near Dresden is advertised, at which a Habeck actor is to be pilloried. The online portal “Tag24” first reported on Monday. The action in the evening on the market square met with little response. About 60 people had gathered. A figure mounted on a pickup truck in a pillory remained cloaked. The leader of the meeting justified this with the conditions for the demo and announced that he wanted to take legal action against it.
Faeser worried about hatred and hate speech on the internet
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said on Monday afternoon during a visit to the Federal Police in Sankt Augustin near Bonn that she was concerned about the development. “It also worried me a lot when my colleague Karl Lauterbach was threatened. There is a lot of hatred and hate speech out there on the internet right now, and that has to worry you. (…) The peaceful protest stops where others are threatened, as is the case now by my colleague Robert Habeck.”
According to the Dresden public prosecutor’s office, there is an investigation into this case. Incitement to commit a crime is a criminal offence. The spokesman for the Dresden public prosecutor, Steve Schulze-Reinhold, said there was initial suspicion. It will be checked whether it is a criminal offense. You evaluate the video.
The right-wing extremist micro-party “Freie Sachsen” has recently been mobilizing on Monday demonstrations in Heidenau against rising energy prices. However, according to the city, the response has so far been limited. It was said that no more than 40 to 50 people came to such events.
