Foreign minister to Germans: Get off the couch, fight racism
CHEMNITZ: Germany’ s foreign minister told his fellow countrymen on Sunday they’re too lazy when it comes to battling racism and fighting for democracy.
“We have to get off the couch and open the mouth,” Heiko Maas said in an interview with weekly Bild am Sonntag. “Our generation was given freedom, rule of law and democracy as a present. We didn’t have to fight for it; (now) we’re taking it too much for granted.”
Maas’ comments followed Saturday’s demonstrations by 4,500 far-right protesters in Chemnitz, who were rallying against migration a week after a German was killed in the city, allegedly by two migrants from Iraq and Syria. Around 4,000 leftist protesters also marched through the city in a counter-protest, and 1,800 police officers were deployed to keep the groups apart.
Eighteen people, including three police officers, were injured during the rallies, which at times were very tense, especially after police ended a march of the far right groups early.
After the rallies were over, small groups clashed with each other, police reported.
Far-right activists and leftist groups had already clashed in Chemnitz on Monday, a day after the 35-year-old German man’s death. Scenes of vigilantes chasing foreigners in the city have shocked people in others parts of Germany since then.