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Röttgen breaks with Dobrindt over his description of the unrest
The senior Union lawmaker called for a clearer distinction between peaceful demonstrators and those behind the violence. He also rejected drawing a single social label from the background of some suspects.
Norbert Röttgen, deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group, called for a more nuanced view of those behind last weekend’s unrest and distanced himself from wording used by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Der Spiegel reported.
In a television appearance cited by the magazine, Röttgen said the perpetrators should be seen as individual offenders. He added that many of those involved in the violence were either foreigners or German citizens of foreign descent, but argued that this does not justify defining one common migrant milieu in Germany.
The dispute followed Dobrindt’s description of the rioters as violence-prone left-wing groups and troublemakers from a migrant environment. In response, Röttgen said a clear distinction must now be made between peaceful demonstrators and those responsible for violent acts.
According to Der Spiegel, tens of thousands joined nationwide youth protests on Saturday called by the group Gen Z regelt and, according to authorities, the demonstrations were largely peaceful. Serious unrest later broke out, including in Frankfurt am Main, Cologne and Hamburg.
Röttgen also argued that taking to the streets to demonstrate is a democratic right, while violence cannot be justified and should be met with the full force of the rule of law. He added that violent offenders must not be allowed to exploit the protest rights of peaceful participants for their own actions.
Der Spiegel said Röttgen is the first prominent Union politician to publicly criticize Dobrindt over that characterization. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius of the SPD had already taken a different line. Further criticism also came from Left Party leader Luigi Pantisano and Green Party co-chair Felix Banaszak.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
