Sunday, September 26th 2021
“Can decompose our country”
Seehofer warns of the “lateral thinking” scene
Interior Minister Seehofer is alarmed by the increasing radicalization of the “lateral thinking” scene. The group is shrinking, but it is becoming more and more dangerous. This is one of the reasons why he calls for harsher punishments after the act in Idar-Oberstein.
After the killing of a petrol station employee in Idar-Oberstein because of a dispute over the mask requirement, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned against radicalization of the “lateral thinking” scene. “The politically motivated violence in Germany by lateral thinkers is dangerous for our country,” said Seehofer of “Bild am Sonntag”.
“The group of lateral thinkers is getting smaller and smaller, but unfortunately also more and more radical and brutal,” added the CSU politician. “They can decompose our country if the rule of law does not fight them with all possible means.” Seehofer called for harsh penalties for perpetrators and their supporters: “The perpetrators and those who support crimes like the one in Idar-Oberstein must be severely punished,” he said.
Security authorities in several federal states have also shown concern about the potential danger posed by so-called corona deniers and the “lateral thinking” scene. That was the result of a request from the newspapers of the “Funke Mediengruppe” to all 16 interior ministries. Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia are warning of a radicalization of the anti-corona protests. Lower Saxony reports on “demands for a government overthrow” in the scene. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Baden-Württemberg sees in particular a potential danger from extremist conspiracy ideologies such as “QAnon”, which in turn are scattered by “numerous” actors from the “lateral thinking” movement.
Last Saturday, a 20-year-old student who was working at the cash register was shot dead at a gas station in Idar-Oberstein in Rhineland-Palatinate. According to the investigators, he had previously advised the 49-year-old suspect of compliance with the mask requirement. According to the police, the alleged perpetrator stated in his interrogation that he rejected the corona protective measures.