Protester right before Habeck blockade: “Planning to set off fireworks here soon”
16.41 Uhr: Before the storming of Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck’s ferry (Green Party), protesters mobilized on social media. According to “ZDFheute” report, a farmer from St. Peter Ording started one of the first calls on Facebook on Thursday at 13:08: “Attention! Robert Harbeck invites today for a citizen dialogue at 16:45 in the Schlüttsiel ferry port! He wishes for endless interest. Let’s do him the favor and come with everything that has wheels.” He had read the message in a WhatsApp group, he told “ZDFheute.”
Similar calls were spread to thousands of members in many Telegram groups. The report quotes the call from the administrator of a farmers’ group from Thursday afternoon: “We’re planning to set off fireworks here soon. It’s going to be awesome.”
According to the farmer who shared the call on Facebook, the coordination was decentralized. “There was no group for that and also no one on site to coordinate it,” he told “ZDFheute.” The action had been peaceful for hours, until “ten out of 300 people” tried to storm the ferry. It was a “lousy idea,” said the farmer.
Researcher sees storming of Habeck ferry as only the “tip of the iceberg”
15.46 Uhr: Civil society researcher Swen Hutter sees the blockade of the ferry of Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Green Party) by farmers only as the “tip of an iceberg.” However, he considers it a “very extreme example” of confrontational protest, said the director of the Center for Civil Society Research at the Free University of Berlin to the German Press Agency on Friday in Berlin.
“Our data on protests in the Federal Republic show that we have experienced an increase in confrontational and violent protests during the pandemic years,” explains Hutter, who is also a professor of political sociology at the Free University of Berlin. “At the same time, further data also show an increase in violence against office-holders.” He emphasized that the majority of protests in this country were not confrontational or violent, and these incidents were therefore not normal.
Nonetheless, he observes “an overall intensification of the political confrontation that is also evident on the streets.” This also involves addressing systemic issues more strongly and expressing increased criticism of democracy and the rule of law.
Hutter attributes this development to the many different crises, which are also reflected in the protests, as well as “strong mobilization structures of right-wing actors who use protests as an opportunity to address their issues and positions.”
Shipping Company CEO: “Protesters behaved like climate glue”
15.18 Uhr: The CEO of the shipping company, Axel Meynköhn, provided further details to “Bild” about the storming of the ferry. The protesters had even attempted to storm the ship when the captain had already raised the hydraulic bridge. “Some even jumped on it. Before that, they pushed a completely uninvolved truck back onto the ship, which wanted to drive down.” For Meynköhn, this was clear coercion, as he had already told the DPA. “The protesters behaved like climate glue,” said the shipping company CEO. He did not want to imagine what would have happened if the protesters had boarded the ship.
The incident was an odyssey for the passengers.„Wenn wir konkret wüssten, wer dahintersteckte, würden wir Anzeige erstatten“, erklärte Meynköhn weiter. Er zeigte mangelndes Verständnis für die Aktion und betonte, dass auch ältere oder kranke Menschen an Bord sein könnten. Darüber hinaus gefährdeten die Demonstranten sich selbst.“
Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt aufgrund des Verdachts der Nötigung
14.15 Uhr: Ein Ermittlungsverfahren wegen des Verdachts der Nötigung wurde von der Staatsanwaltschaft Flensburg eingeleitet. Darüber hinaus wird geprüft, ob weitere Straftaten wie Widerstand gegen Vollstreckungsbeamte und Landfriedensbruch vorliegen, erklärte Oberstaatsanwalt Bernd Winterfeldt der Deutschen Presse-Agentur am Freitag. Gegenwärtig wird gegen unbekannt ermittelt. Zuvor hatte der „Spiegel“ berichtet.
Faeser warnt vor Ausnutzung von Bauernprotesten
13.23 Uhr: Das Bundesinnenministerium hat vor dem Missbrauch von Bauernprotesten gegen geplante Subventionskürzungen durch extreme Kräfte gewarnt. Ein Sprecher von Ministerin Nancy Faeser (SPD) sagte am Freitag in Berlin, es sei zu erwarten, dass insbesondere Akteure aus dem rechtsextremen Spektrum sowie aus dem Spektrum derjenigen, die die Legitimität des Staates untergraben wollten, im Verlauf der Protestwoche versuchen würden, Veranstaltungen für eigene Interessen zu nutzen. „Es ist wichtig, dass die Initiatoren sich klar distanzieren, um sicherzustellen, dass solche Ausnutzungsversuche durch Extremisten nicht erfolgreich sind.“
Der Deutsche Bauernverband hat für die kommende Woche zu einer Aktionswoche gegen geplante Kürzungen von Subventionen aufgerufen. Die Bundesregierung hatte am Donnerstagangekündigt, einen Teil der Kürzungen rückgängig zu machen. Dem Bauernverband reicht das jedoch nicht aus. Am Donnerstag hatten Landwirte den Bundeswirtschaftsminister Robert Habeck daran gehindert, an der Nordseeküste ein Schiff zu verlassen.
Gemeinde informierte Polizei über „Fake News“ zu angeblichem Bürger-Dialog mit Habeck
12.18 Uhr: Der Bürgermeister der Gemeinde Ockholm hat die Blockadeaktion gegen Vizekanzler Robert Habeck (Grüne) in Schlüttsiel scharf kritisiert. „Es kann ja nicht sein, dass du jemanden daran hinderst, dass er die Fähre verlässt. Das ist ja schon Nötigung“, sagte Matthias Feddersen der Deutschen Presse-Agentur. Er habe am Donnerstag vorher davon erfahren, dass sich Habeck angeblich mit Bauern treffen wolle.
Es sei von vornherein klar gewesen, dass es sich dabei um Falschmeldungen handele, sagte Feddersen. Das Ordnungsamt habe letztlich geraten, die Polizei zu informieren. „Man kann ihn ja nicht ins offene Messer laufen lassen.“ Die Gemeinde sei am Fähranleger ja mehr oder weniger Hausherr.
Er selbst sei nicht am Ort gewesen, sagte Feddersen. Zwar könne er verstehen, dass die Landwirte aufgebracht seien. „Aber so, wie sie es gemacht haben: Das war eine Spur zu hart. Ganz klar.“
Habeck plant Gespräch mit Bauern
11.30 Uhr: Der Bundeswirtschaftsminister Robert Habeck beabsichtigt, nach der Blockade einer Fähre das Gespräch mit Landwirten zu suchen – sowohl regional als auch auf Bundesebene. Dies sagte eine Sprecherin des Grünen-Politikers am Freitag. „Er kommuniziert gerne direkt mit den Menschen.“
Am Donnerstag hatten Landwirte Habeck an der Nordseeküste daran gehindert, ein Schiff zu verlassen. Habeck bekundete seine Dankbarkeit gegenüber den Einsatzkräften der Polizei, die das Schiff gesichert hätten. „Es tut mir leid, dass kein Treffen mit den Landwirten zustande kommen konnte.“ Habeck äußerte nach der Blockade seine Besorgnis über die Stimmung in Deutschland.
Hintergrund der Proteste von Landwirten sind geplante Kürzungen von Subventionen. Die Bundesregierung hatte am Donnerstag angekündigt, einen Teil der Kürzungen zurückzunehmen.wants to retract a portion of the cuts.
Shipping company CEO: “If the decision had been made a minute later, the ferry would have been stormed.”
11:23 AM: According to the Wyker Steamship Shipping Company, the ferry in the port of Schlüttsiel with Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Green Party) on board was nearly stormed by demonstrators on Thursday evening. The captain prevented this at the last moment by setting sail again, said Axel Meynköhn, the managing director of the shipping company, to dpa on Friday. All around 30 passengers coming from the Halligen islands were prevented from leaving the ferry. A truck driver was forced to reverse from the ramp back onto the ferry. “In my view, this is coercion. This is a serious incident,” said Meynköhn. There could also have been medical emergencies on board.
The captain decided to set sail again with the bodyguards on board and after consulting with the police on land. “If this decision had been made a minute later, the ferry would have been stormed,” said the managing director. “I know from the crew that people would have still jumped over if the ship hadn’t been too far away,” said the managing director. “It wasn’t a minute too late, otherwise the mob would have been on board, with unimaginable consequences.”
The ferry then initially returned to Hallig Hooge with all passengers on board. This is no longer just about Robert Habeck, who was privately on Hooge, it’s about the entirety of the ship, its passengers, and its crew, emphasized Meynköhn. “There was clearly coercion here. To our knowledge, such an incident has not occurred in the almost 140-year history of the shipping company.”
Police spokesman: “They wanted to reach Habeck. That was hazard prevention.”
11:14 AM: A police spokesman assesses the attack on the ferry to “Nius”. “The term exercise of violence is very broad. It was an attempt to board the ship, a form of violence, breaching the distances to the police officers, but not actual violence. Therefore, as the police, we refrain from speaking of violence.”
The spokesperson describes the police operation at the ferry terminal on Thursday evening as follows: “They tried to get past the colleagues and were forcibly prevented from doing so. They were not passengers; they wanted to reach Mr. Habeck. That was hazard prevention. The on-site assessment was that it was too dangerous to expose Mr. Habeck to these people. The initiation of a dialogue was also considered too dangerous by Mr. Habeck in consultation between the police and his personal bodyguards.”
According to the spokesperson, a report for breach of the peace against unknown persons is now being prepared. “It was about 25 to 30 people, the other 250 to 300 behaved peacefully. It is not reconstructable whether pepper spray was used when the ferry was still at the pier or if it had already set sail. The decision to set sail came very suddenly. The whole process took about five to ten minutes.”
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