Torch-bearing protest in front of Saxon health minister’s residence

Leipzig, Germany (dpa) – Torch-bearing opponents of the coronavirus policy of the regional government of Saxony protested in front of the residence of the eastern German state’s health minister, Petra Koepping, a police spokeswoman said on Saturday morning.

According to the Social Democrat (SPD) politician, about 30 people gathered shouting loudly with torches and placards in front of the house in the town of Grimma outside Leipzig on Friday evening.

When the police arrived, the people fled in several vehicles. According to the report, 15 cars were stopped by the police and the identities of 25 people were established.

Police filed charges for violating the assembly act and are investigating violations of the anti-coronavirus ordinance.

Due to the dramatic pandemic situation, according to Saxony’s coronavirus emergency ordinance, only gatherings with a maximum of 10 people are currently allowed in the state – and only at a fixed location.

On Friday evening, there had been protests against the current coronavirus policies in several Saxon towns.

The SPD in Saxony as well as the SPD’s federal-level chair, Saskia Esken, condemned the protest in front of Koepping’s house and expressed their solidarity with the minister.

Esken wrote on Twitter, “Even if the few (people) there are trying to spread fear and terror: the sensible and responsible are the vast majority, and they stand by your side!”

A tweet from the Saxon SPD said: “We show full solidarity with @Koepping! Such images and deeds must not be allowed to happen!”

SPD Secretary General Lars Klingbeil strongly condemned the torchlight demonstration.

The limits of freedom of expression had been exceeded here, he said at a party conference in Berlin on Saturday. He said it could not be that politicians were threatened and “right-wing conspirators and tinfoil hat wearers” gathered with torches in front of a minister’s house.

“This needs a response in the full rigour of the rule of law, it needs to be protested by the decent in this country,” Klingbeil stressed. To Koepping he assured, “We all stand by your side.”