Head of Public Order Benjamin Koppe: Threats are unacceptable

Threats are unacceptable - there are limits!

Mayors, elected officials and administrative staff in cities and municipalities are increasingly becoming the target of hatred and intimidation, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Threatening letters and hostility towards politicians, including on social networks, are now commonplace.

Head of Public Order Benjamin Koppe reports on a recent incident in this context: "At the beginning of this week, I received an anonymous threatening letter in my department. In this letter, I was openly threatened with "violence and an escalation of resistance" in connection with the unannounced gatherings, the so-called "corona walks". This behavior is absolutely unacceptable and I, as a city official, am not prepared to accept this without comment. There are limits! The incident was immediately reported to the police," explains Koppe.

The situation in Jena has been tense for weeks. The so-called "Corona Walks" on Mondays are keeping the city administration busy as the public order and assembly authority, as these gatherings are not properly registered and the regulations of the Thuringian Infection Protection Ordinance are not observed by the participants. The assembly authority therefore regularly disperses unannounced marches with the support of the police. In the course of this, reports of administrative offenses are filed against those participants in the gatherings who do not comply with the dispersal order.

"I can therefore only appeal to those who take part in these marches: Do not join these so-called walks and look left and right to see who you are walking with there. The right to freedom of expression is undisputed. But please do not allow yourself to be instrumentalized by those who deliberately want to put our democratic and social rules to the test," said the head of department.

The members of Jena City Council sent out a similar signal on Wednesday evening and adopted a declaration on political respect and cohesion in dealing with the pandemic with broad political support.