Germany: Anti-COVID restrix demo outside health minister's home 'attack on democracy' - govt spox

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A spokesperson has slammed an anti-COVID restrictions demonstration outside the Saxony health minister’s home as ‘an attack on democracy’, during a government press conference in Berlin on Monday.

The torchlit rally, which was held in Grimma outside the private home of Health Minister Petra Kopping, took place on Friday evening.

Government spokesperson Steffen Seibert condemned the gathering as ‘deeply scandalous’ and ‘an attack on democracy’.

“This is about intimidating [and] threatening a state representative who stands for her tasks, for her beliefs,” added Interior Ministry spokesperson Steve Alter.

The growing presence of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border was also discussed during the conference, with Seibert calling for ‘transparency’ from Moscow.

“What we see from the Russian side at the moment is a lack of transparency, we also see an increased aggressive rhetoric from Russia, and that we cannot accept,” said Seibert.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense estimate that 90,000 Russian troops are currently stationed by the country’s border. Russia has denied claims it is amassing troops along its border with Ukraine.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Steffen Seibert, German government spokesperson (German): “What happened in front of the house of the Saxony health minister, this march is deeply scandalous. Not only is this an attack on the privacy of Mrs Kopping, the minister, it is also an attack on democracy. It is intimidation, the demonstrators only want to instill fear. And there cannot be any ground for this within the democratic discourse about the right way out of this pandemic.’‘

SOT, Steve Alter, Spokesperson for the Interior Ministry (German): “This is about intimidating [and] threatening a state representative who stands for her tasks, for her beliefs. The federal interior minister said ‘this reminds of the darkest chapters of German history.’

SOT, Steve Alter, Spokesperson for the Interior ministry (German): “He also pointed out, that beyond all statistical data, we naturally have to be concerned that around the discussion of mandatory vaccinations and similar strong measures to fight the corona pandemic which are justified in themselves, the events possibly around corona deniers, anti-vaxxers and similar people will develop. We cannot rule out that there might be increased dynamics as well as violence from this group.’‘

SOT, Steffen Seibert, German government spokesperson (German): “Russia and Belarus, well let’s stick to Russia, of course have the right to deploy their own armed forces on their own territory. But when they do so, there should be transparency and provocations should be averted. What we see from the Russian side at the moment is a lack of transparency, we also see an increased aggressive rhetoric from Russia, and that we cannot accept, this was clearly emphasised by the NATO General Secretary at the end of the meeting in Riga.’‘

SOT, Steffen Seibert, German government spokesperson (German): “Regarding your question on how serious the situation is at the Russian-Ukrainian border, what is behind the armed forces deployment that we observe, has already been commented on by NATO - that this cannot lead to an aggression, another aggression, that there would a price to be paid - I don’t want to spell this out now - but these kind of scenarios were discussed by the partners.’‘

SOT, Steffen Seibert, German government spokesperson (German): “As you know there is an agreement between Germany and the USA about Nord Stream II. Within this agreement there were measures being discussed in the case that for example gas would be used in an aggressive way, as a tool for aggressive altercations.’‘

SOT, Andrea Sasse, Spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry (German): “In our opinion it is the case that for several weeks there were deployments of Russian armed forces and material close to the Ukrainian border. Additionally the humanitarian and security situation has worsened in the last weeks and months in Donbass. We expect, I believe we have clearly shown our expectations last week, deescalation in the form of Russia showing transparency - and I have to repeat my words and Mr. Seibert’s words - about what are the goals with these movements of armed forces and what are the intentions in regards to Ukraine.’‘

SOT, Andrea Sasse, Spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry (German): “​We are hopeful for tomorrow’s talk between Mr Biden and Mr Putin being able to contribute to a return to these talks [of the Normandy, Minsk agreement] and within these talks to show the necessary transparency.’‘

#Bundespressekonferenz #Germany

Video ID: 20211206-025

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