German leaders discuss domestic spy chief ’s fate
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of her coalition partners held emergency talks yesterday about the future of the domestic intelligence chief amid calls for his dismissal.
The Social Democrats (SPD) are calling on Merkel to fire Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the Verfassungsschutz spy agency, saying that remarks he made about right-wing violence undermined the government.
The meeting included SPD leader Andrea Nahles and Horst Seehofer, head of the conservative Bavarian CSU who also serves as Germany’s interior minister.
Seehofer expressed his faith in Maassen on Wednesday, stirring fresh tension in the coalition that nearly broke up three months ago over the issue of migration.
Top SPD official Lars Klingbeil said yesterday: “For the SPD leadership, it’s totally clear that Maassen has to go – Merkel has to act now.”
But no decision on Maassen was announced after the 90-minute talks in Berlin ended.
The issue was to be taken up in another meeting on Tuesday, sources close to the discussion told DPA.
Xenophobic protests in the city of Chemnitz – prompted by the death of a German citizen, allegedly at the hands of asylum-seekers – shocked Germany last month.
Video footage then emerged that showed people of non-German appearance being targeted on the sidelines of the rallies, adding to the anger.
Merkel condemned video that showed two Arab men being subjected to an attack by what appeared to be locals, denouncing the “mob-like” behaviour and “hunts” against migrants.
Maassen later gave an interview to the Bild newspaper in which he downplayed the scale of the violence and contradicted the chancellor, saying that there was “no evidence” for her statement and calling into question the video’s authenticity.
He has since rowed back those comments and affirmed the veracity of the footage.
Even before Maassen’s original comments caused an uproar, the SPD and opposition parties had called on him to resign over allegations that he sympathises with the right and has a tooclose relationship with the farright Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who is a member of the SPD, told DPA yesterday that the rallies were damaging Germany’s reputation abroad, but added that “people also recognise that many upstanding citizens in Germany also had their say”.
“Right-wing extremism shakes the foundations of our liberal democracy and threatens social cohesion. We must prevent the polarization of society in Germany,” Maas told DPA in an interview.
Also yesterday, a man who participated in a right-wing protest in Chemnitz was found guilty of performing a Nazi salute and trying to strike a police officer during his arrest.
The 33-year-old defendant – the first participant in the Chemnitz rallies to go on trial – was sentenced to eight months on probation and has been slapped with a fine of €2,000 ($2,300).
The use of Nazi symbols, such as the Hitler salute and the swastika, is illegal in Germany and can be used only for educational purposes.
A German police spokeswoman said yesterday that an umbrella group of right-wing organisations called “Zukunft Heimat” (“Future Homeland”) would hold a rally in the eastern town of Koethen on Sunday.
According to German investigators, a 22-year German citizen died overnight into Sunday after interjecting himself into a fight between several Afghan nationals in Koethen.
An autopsy report later showed the man had died of sudden heart failure.