Olaf Scholz promises firmness after threats from the “antivax” movement

After threats of anti-vaccines targeting elected officials, including the leader of Saxony, the new German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, promised to lead a relentless fight on Wednesday against the “minority of extremists”.

Searches were carried out by the criminal police of this region of eastern Germany, assisted by special intervention forces, this Wednesday morning, at five suspects in Dresden and Heidenau after these death threats aimed at a group anti-vaccine application Telegram, the Minister-President of the Land.

An open investigation

This region of the former GDR is a stronghold of the anti-restriction movement in the country and also of the extreme right which, according to the authorities, is at the forefront of the movement. The operation follows the infiltration of journalists from the public channel ZDF into an encrypted messaging group on which, according to them, death threats were issued against Michael Kretschmer, elected conservative (CDU) in favor of vaccination against the Covid-19. “The statements of some members of the group suggested that they could be in possession of real weapons and crossbows,” police said in a statement.

“What also exists today in Germany is the denial of reality, the stories of absurd conspiracies, deliberate disinformation and violent extremism”, lamented in front of the Bundestag Olaf Scholz, promising a response “using all the means of our democratic rule of law ”. Justice had opened an investigation the day after the broadcast on December 7 of the program which revealed the contents of the messages of this Telegram group, which has a hundred members “linked by their opposition to the vaccine, to the State and to the current health policy ”, according to the prosecution. A movement opposed to health restrictions has been particularly mobilized in Germany since the start of the pandemic.

Gas used by the Nazis

Several elected officials, journalists and institutions in Germany have thus received threatening letters because of the compulsory vaccination project, Berlin police revealed on Wednesday. According to police, the letters were accompanied by pieces of meat wrapped in aluminum foil and marked that they were “contaminated with Covid-19 viruses and Zyklon B”, the gas used by the Nazis to exterminate them. Jews. Laboratory analyzes, however, showed that the meat was safe.

“Let’s be clear: a small extremist minority in our country has turned away from our society, our democracy, our community and our state, and not just science, rationality and reason”, described the Social Democratic chancellor, who took over from Angela Merkel a week ago. Like the former chancellor, he felt that “the biggest threat” to the country currently came from the ranks of the far right. In early December, opponents of anti-Covid restrictions noisily gathered outside the home of Saxony’s health minister with torches and whistles, reminiscent of Nazi-era parades. The rally sparked outrage across the country.

Telegram in the crosshairs

Faced with a violent fourth wave of the pandemic, the government has decided to tighten restrictions on unvaccinated people, now deprived of access to most public places, restaurants and non-essential shops. Compulsory vaccination could be voted in the coming weeks, for entry into force in February or March. The number of opponents of health measures ready for violence in Germany would be between 15,000 and 20,000, estimated Tuesday in an interview with the newspaper Bild an official of the social democratic party in power, Sebastian Fiedler, expert on security subjects. Anti-restriction demonstrations are almost daily and sometimes interspersed with violence.

Telegram messaging is in the crosshairs of political leaders across the country. Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius on Monday asked the giants Google and Apple to remove this application from their application stores. In addition to prohibited gatherings or actions, messaging also serves as a channel for trafficking false health passes. “We must act in a more determined manner against incitement, violence and hatred on the net”, reacted the new Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, deploring that “the courier services are currently not concerned” by anti-hate legislation online, unlike Facebook or Twitter.