Leipzig: “Day X” operation: Chief of Police admits need for action

In retrospect, Leipzig police chief René Demmler classifies the massive deployment on the left-wing radical “Day X” as legitimate, but also sees a need for action. It was a big problem that the police significantly underestimated the number of people who were held in a boiler for many hours on June 3, Demmler said.

Communication with those trapped also did not work. The police have worked up the events surrounding “Day X” in minute detail, Demmler presented the results on Thursday in the interior committee of the Saxon state parliament.

More than 3000 police officers on duty

“We still believe that all of this is legal,” said Demmler. A lot of criticism was subsequently leveled at the operation involving more than 3,000 officers. The main focus was on the cauldron, in which 1,043 people were sometimes held until dawn. Allegations were made that those affected were poorly cared for and that there were also 87 young people and two 13-year-old children in the area. The police established the identity of each individual. The initial suspicion of a serious breach of the peace existed.

“We had a huge problem determining the number of people in the enclosure,” said the police chief. It was not clear for a long time that there were more than 1000 people there instead of the assumed 300 to 400 people. “We didn’t know until the last one was out,” said Demmler. The cauldron was in a small park, under trees and among bushes. If one had recognized the actual magnitude, one would have opted for a shortened identity check. However, the question of how to count and estimate better is difficult to answer.

Police chief: “Nobody wanted to talk to us”

Communication with the people in the boiler did not work either. He “bluntly” admits that, said Demmler. “A clear and comprehensible communication of the police was not successful in this area.” There is a need for action here. However, the police chief also pointed out that those trapped were not cooperative. “Nobody wanted to talk to us.”

Regarding the criticism of the supply, Demmler said that both a trailer with 1000 liters of drinking water and a toilet truck were available – but outside the boiler. Blankets and food were also available. Ultimately, however, demo medics would have taken over the care of the people. Thank you for that, said Demmler. The police leadership decided to let the paramedics act, but this was not clearly communicated either.

After the committee meeting, the member of parliament Kerstin Köditz (left) was positively surprised that the police admitted to making mistakes in some aspects. However, there were still unanswered questions, which should now be answered in writing, said Köditz of the German Press Agency.

“It is important to process such operations in parliament. If so many bystanders are affected by police measures against a much smaller group, one must be able to ask whether the operation strategy was the right one,” explained Albrecht Pallas (SPD). Massive violations of fundamental rights had taken place: “My impression remains that things escalated too much.”

Criticism of encirclement

Green politician Valentin Lippmann saw his view confirmed afterwards that the encirclement of the demonstrators was disproportionate. “It can still be assumed that there were a large number of people in the boiler who were never suspects.” One expects a further processing of the mission, knowledge must flow into the future work.

The verdict of the CDU was different. She spoke of a “strong performance by the police”. “Assembly authorities and the police did the best they could to ensure that Leipzig remained safe on ‘Day X’ (…). The measures taken were necessary,” emphasized CDU interior expert Ronny Wähner. The enclosure was specifically directed against a group from which acts of violence were committed. Bystanders had previously been asked several times to remove themselves. “We expect the police to then record the personal details of potential criminals.”

Riots in Leipzig after the verdict

The police operation on “Day X” began on May 31 with the verdict against left-wing extremist Lina E. There were riots in Leipzig on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Stones, firecrackers and bottles were thrown at police officers, and on Saturday before the start of the encirclement, a Molotov cocktail was thrown from among the demonstrators. The public prosecutor sees this as an attempted homicide, they are investigating attempted murder against an unknown person, as a spokesman said.

The “Day X” should be a reaction of the left scene to the Lina E. verdict. The actual demo was banned by the city of Leipzig, two administrative courts and the Federal Constitutional Court had confirmed the ban.