German Police Raid Covid Skeptic’s Alleged Assasination Plot
February 11, 2022
On December 15, 2021, police invaded multiple locations in the city of Dresden, which is in Eastern Germany. Officials of the State of Saxony stated that there were “murder plans” against the Leader of the state, Michael Kretschmer. Officials also stated that these plans were discussed and formatted through the popular messaging app, Telegram. A total of six properties were searched and six people were singled out in the investigation. The group named “Dresden Offlinevernetzung,” also known as Dresden Offline Network, made Death threats against Michael Kretschmer. Another cause for concern was the group suggesting specific “armed force”[1].
In the Saxony region, once a part of Communist East Germany, Covid vaccination rates are low while infection rates are high relative to the rest of Germany. These raids come after widespread protests in not only Saxony, but the entirety of Germany. These protests are held based off of new Covid-19 restrictions and vaccinations mandates for essential workers. Protests surrounding Covid first made headlines in April of 2020, however more recently the uproar is about the vaccine. The death threats to Kretschmer were more than seemingly in relation to discontent about the vaccine mandates [2].
Because of the suspicion from the government that the people owned firearms and hunting weapons, special forces were used to carry out the raid. They found their suspicions to be correct as parts of dangerous weapons and a crossbow were found [3].
In his response, Kretschmer stated that “Of course, you can say what you don’t like. But when violence comes into play, it’s over. A line has been crossed which we will not tolerate.” Kretschmer has also said that the government will invest in more resources to fight extremism [1]. Kretschmer has been a impactful advocate of the vaccine. With the proliferation of the Omicron variant coupled with the threat of extremists, he has doubled down on his stance saying, “We need a federally unified strategy against Omicron. We will expand booster shots and the vaccination of children,”[3].
The current Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, finds himself in a rather large predicament against the extreme ideas of the anti-vaccination group in Germany. Scholz was only just elected on December 8th, 2021 replacing long time female chancellor, Angela Merkel. Just days before Merkel was set to be replaced, she announced that unvaccinated people would not be allowed to go into supermarkets and pharmacies. Scholz and Merkel are from different parties, but Scholz has said that he will continue with some similar strategies that Merkel uses. Merkel was the Chancellor for 16 years and Sholz will most likely bring new energy to Germany [4].
As of January 3rd, 2022, well over 7 million Germans have/had Covid-19, with 650,000 total cases in Saxony alone. More than a hundred thousand Germans have died from the Covid-19 pandemic [5]. On the 8th of December, the same day Scholz was made Chancellor, Germany hit its highest number of deaths in a day since February [6]. With Germany’s rising Covid-19 cases and the dangers of the Omicron Variant coupled with the amount of people protesting against vaccinations, Scholz and the rest of the German government will have their hands full trying to get curb Covid-19 issues.
[1] https://www.dw.com/en/germany-police-raid-covid-skeptics-over-alleged-assassination-plot/a-60124553
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/15/europe/saxony-murder-plot-arrests-intl/index.html
[4] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/
[5] https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/08/europe/germany-covid-europe-intl/index.html
