In Schleusingen in southern Thuringia, hundreds of people regularly take part in demos backed by right-wing extremists. The President of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees a strategy behind it.
According to Thuringia’s head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer, right-wing extremists will increasingly try to win people over to their political goals with the issues of immigration and asylum. “At the moment I’m assuming that the topic of asylum and refugees will be boiled up again on a massive scale,” Kramer told the German Press Agency in Erfurt.
It’s about using the emotions of citizens and winning them over to your own political goals. This can be seen, for example, in the demonstrations against a planned refugee accommodation in Schleusingen in southern Thuringia.
“Common cause” with neo-Nazis
“If you look at who is among the organizers and also the main speakers at the events – then they are proven right-wing extremists,” said Kramer. At the same time, you have to make a distinction: Not everyone who ran there were neo-Nazis. “But if you’re chasing after people like that, you have to be clear about who you’re collaborating with.”
In the small town of Schleusingen (district of Hildburghausen), hundreds have been taking to the streets in demonstrations against a planned refugee shelter for weeks. According to the police, there were around 670 demonstrators and around 70 counter-demonstrators at the end of April. Another demo is planned for Wednesday. The background to this are plans by the district of Hildburghausen to convert a former hospital into accommodation for refugees.
More than a warning sign
According to security circles, one of the co-organizers of the protest is a nationally known neo-Nazi. Kramer said he made no secret of being a right-wing extremist. It is more than a warning sign that he is now accepted in the region. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution drew attention to the fact that there were also counter-demos in the region – and people who were active against the right. The fact that hundreds of people took part in the demos from the right-wing spectrum was alarming.
Source: Stern
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