The 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 process because of his party's sanctions policy. "We reported the video to Facebook so that it can be checked and deleted in accordance with the Network Enforcement Act. We are also checking the facts legally," 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 about it.
Faeser: A lot of hate on the internet
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said on Monday 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 hate and hate speech online right now, and that has to worry you. (...) The peaceful protest stops where others do being 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.
When asked about the planned action in Heidenau, the Saxon Office for the Protection of the Constitution said: "As an early warning system, it is our duty to unmask the extremist tone of such campaigns. This is not about factual criticism, but about the abuse of the constitutionally protected freedom of assembly for a extremist action." Concerned citizens can only be warned against protesting side by side with right-wing extremists and allowing them "to pull the cart".
40 to 50 people at Monday demonstrations
The right-wing extremist micro-party Freie Sachsen has recently been mobilizing at 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.
It is an essential part of the strategy of extremists to take up topics in both the real world and the virtual world that dominate the political discourse or affect large parts of the population, said the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. These currently include the looming energy crisis and its consequences as well as the already rampant inflation.
According to the assessment of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the right-wing extremists have not yet had any resounding mobilization success with the new topic of the energy crisis. Extremist parties like the Free Saxons tried to profit from the citizens' fears of social decline or the "social explosives" caused by rising living costs.
