Ausschreitungen: Polizeigewerkschaft kontert Kritik an Zuordnung der Krawalle

Following violent riots over the weekend, the police trade union (GdP) has responded with confusion to criticism regarding the classification of the perpetrators as young men from a "migrant background." Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) made this assertion, stating, "Our colleagues who have upheld our rule of law and performed this duty professionally have confirmed precisely these perpetrator groups in their reports."

GdP President Andreas Roßkopf of the federal police questioned why "some political areas are trying to gloss over this." Riots and looting of certain shops occurred in Frankfurt am Main in the night preceding Sunday, after thousands of young people had peacefully demonstrated for educational and social issues. Clashes with the police also took place in other locations such as Cologne, Hamburg, and Berlin after these nationwide demonstrations concluded.

Dobrindt later told "Bild" that "violent left-wing groups and migrants from a migrant background" had infiltrated the peaceful demonstrations in the afternoon and turned them violent. He subsequently dropped the term "milieu" and only referred to "violent left-wing groups and migrant thugs." Fifty-four rioters and looters were apprehended.

Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) stated, "This perpetrator group was predominantly migrant." Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) found the classification too vague, asking, "What are migrant groups? Are they people who have lived in Germany for three generations and are German citizens? Where do we draw the line?"

He deemed this approach "the wrong direction." Both the Greens and the Left also criticized this classification. Dobrindt also received criticism within his own ranks. Norbert Röttgen, the deputy CDU/CSU party leader in the Bundestag, said that among the violent offenders were many "who are either foreigners or Germans of foreign descent."

However, he argued that this does not imply a common migrant background: "There is no one migrant environment in Germany." The Interior Minister of the Federal Government, Natalie Pawlik (SPD), called for differentiation. She told the "Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung" that the causes of such violent incidents should be discussed, mentioning issues like lack of prospects, experiences of exclusion, or integration problems.

"But it is about the question of why, not the origin," she stressed. "Attributing such violent outbreaks to migrant backgrounds always leads to oversimplification."