The debate on right-wing extremism within the German police force gained new momentum this week. 30 police officers have been suspended since it became known that they were active in right-wing extremist chat groups. After a series of similar incidents, criticism is now growing against the Minister of the Interior for not taking the issue seriously.
“This is neo-Nazi, racist and xenophobic propaganda of the most disgusting kind,” Regional Interior Minister Herbert Reul explained after a raid by police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on his own colleagues on Wednesday morning.
They now shut down the police had been involved in five chat groups. Pictures of Hitler, swastikas and drawings of refugees in gas chambers were just a few examples of things that the 30 suspected police officers have sent to each other for several years.
That it was discovered was a pure coincidence. But that it is not something unique is confirmed by several revelations in recent years about German police who have spread hatred and incitement.
Each time, the debate is gaining momentum, whether it is about individuals or a structural problem within the authorities that manage the state’s monopoly on violence. So too this time and again the demands for a thorough investigation of how widespread right-wing extremism is within the police force are heard.
Just like before Germany’s interior minister, Christian Democrat Horst Seehofer, has called for a screening. He justifies this by saying that these are only a few rotten eggs that are not representative of the country’s nearly 300,000 police officers.
But criticism is growing from several quarters. Opposition parties, police unions and even the Social Democrat government colleagues in the coalition government accuse Seehofer of passivity and claim that it is rather his refusal to investigate the police that arouses distrust and contributes to the suspicion of all police officers.
Source: ICELAND NEWS