By Boris Dombrowski
The New Year’s Eve riots in Berlin – Monday the topic comes up in the Interior Committee of the House of Representatives. But even in the run-up there is a lot of Zoff!
The trigger is a list of questions in which the CDU asks, among other things, for the first names of suspects with German nationality. The domestic politicians from the SPD, Greens and Left reacted promptly – and accused the CDU parliamentary group of populism. “The CDU is dropping its right-wing populist mask,” criticized SPD interior expert Tom Schreiber (44). Green domestic politician Vasili Franco (30) raged: “This is a spread of racist resentment.”
Left-wing politician Niklas Schrader (41) took the same line: “The CDU submitted questions for the interior committee on New Year’s Eve 2022 and asked for the first names of the German suspects. Apparently to deny them being German,” he wrote on Twitter.
And even from the CDU parliamentary group there was criticism: “The times when you wanted to use a first name to identify what kind of person is behind it are finally over,” said Danny Freymark (39) to the BZ, “that’s why I suggest this question to withdraw!”
However, one must “discuss openly and honestly,” he warned. “And that’s why I think the question of a migration background for the suspects is completely legitimate.“
Meanwhile, CDU parliamentary group leader and interior expert Frank Balzer (58) accused the government factions of using their majority to prevent “enlightenment efforts”. “An error analysis by the police leadership is not enough for us,” he emphasized. His criticism is aimed at the fact that no police officers and firefighters should be heard in the interior committee on Monday.
Balzer justified the question about the first names of the suspects with a lack of transparency. The previous information provided by the police on their nationality was not sufficient, he said. One wanted to know whether suspects with a German passport had a migration background. According to the emergency services, this is the case. “If there is a problem there, we have to know about it and disclose it without prejudice,” demands Balzer.
According to the police, the 145 suspects temporarily arrested on New Year’s Eve included 45 Germans and 17 other nationalities, including 27 Afghans and 21 Syrians. 94 of the 145 are under the age of 25, including 27 minors.