Duisburg flag dispute

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The reason for the Duisburg flag dispute was the action taken by the police in the context of a demonstration against the Gaza war organized by the Islamic community Millî Görüş on January 10, 2009 in Duisburg .

procedure

At the edge of the demonstration path, an Israeli flag was affixed to the window and balcony of his apartment on the third floor . The flags, which the student claims to regularly hang up to show solidarity with Israel, aroused the anger of the demonstrators, who began to throw objects. Police officers broke into the apartment that had been vacated at the time and removed the flags to loud applause from anti-Israel protesters. After that, the protest march continued as planned.

The incident was documented by several people and only two hours later the WDR's local time in Duisburg published it and then local bloggers on the Internet. The affected apartment owner, a member of the Duisburg Alliance against Anti-Semitism , reported on the events in the WDR and in a pro-Israel blog. Only then did other media take up the topic and initiate a public debate.

Public response

The Duisburg police initially defended the action as a measure to calm the situation down and Jacques Marx, the head of the Jewish community in Duisburg, also expressed understanding for the measure. At the same time, however, he criticized the fact that the demonstration by Milli Görüs, classified as extremist, should not have been approved in the first place.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany and officials of the major federal parties expressed sharp criticism and lack of understanding . The right to freedom of expression was not protected, but had to give way to violence.

The incident also attracted international attention. Efraim Zuroff , director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center , called the procedure “cowardly”. The American weekly magazine The Weekly Standard accused the police of giving in to Islamists in a comment.

Rainer Wendt , Federal Chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG) said: "It is intolerable that determine Islamists police action in Germany." He criticized in particular the Duisburg police chief Rolf Cebin , these have sent his subordinate police officers in complete understaffing in use. The march with over 10,000 participants was accompanied by only 280 police officers. Wendt therefore called for Cebin's resignation and described him as the "worst police chief in all of Germany". Cebin later apologized for the action taken by the Duisburg emergency services.

The North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Ingo Wolf (FDP) declared that the police had to refrain from interfering with freedom of expression and welcomed the apology. SPD interior expert Dieter Wiefelspütz declared that the procedure was illegal and must have consequences. An apology from the Duisburg police chief is not enough. Bundestag parliamentary group deputy chief Wolfgang Bosbach (CDU) also called for legal consequences.

SPD legal expert Karsten Rudolph called the procedure "a black day for the rule of law" .

Work-up

On January 15, 2009, the interior committee of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia met on the incident. The SPD MP Sören Link described the procedure as "a surrender to the Islamist mob". The opposition called on Interior Minister Wolf to take on political responsibility. For his part, Wolf did not rule out disciplinary action against police officers in Duisburg. Police inspector Dieter Wehe announced that in future more police officers would be used in such demonstrations. According to media reports, a further meeting of the Interior Committee debated whether the cause of the flag dispute was a targeted action by circles of so-called " anti-Germans ".

On January 17, 2009 in Duisburg around 200 people expressed their solidarity with Israel at a rally under the motto “Show the flag”. In a subsequent demonstration critical of Israel, 5 counter-demonstrators carrying Israeli flags were thrown with fireworks. At the request of the organizer, the police, who were present this time with "several hundred", ended the demonstration prematurely. On January 27, 2009, a joint rally of Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups took place in Duisburg in response to the events.

In April 2009, the Bielefeld lawyer Jürgen Vahle , in a legal opinion for the Interior Committee of the German Bundestag, expressed the opinion that breaking open the apartment and removing the Israeli flags had been lawful in order to avoid an uncontrollable escalation of the demonstration by the police. The police union thereupon demanded an apology from the Interior Committee “for the premature prejudgment of the police in the Duisburg flag dispute”.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Police storm the apartment and hang the Israel flag in: Spiegel online, January 13, 2009
  2. ^ Police removed the Israeli flag from the ruhrbarone blog on January 10, 2009
  3. ↑ Report by Sebastian M. at The Muqata , January 11, 2009
  4. ^ Scandal about the flag being dropped , in: Der Westen (WAZ), January 12, 2009
  5. ↑ Outrage still great ( memento of the original from January 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . in: rp-online, January 13, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rp-online.de
  6. ↑ Outrage over the police operation . in: FOCUS, January 12, 2009
  7. ^ Anger spreads After German Police Remove Israeli Flag . FOXNews, Jan. 14, 2009.
  8. ↑ Article in El Mundo (Spanish)
  9. ↑ Analysis: How Germany deals with Gaza war  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . in: Middle East Times, Jan. 14, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.metimes.com  
  10. ↑ German police ban Israeli flags ( Memento of the original from February 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . in: The Jerusalem Post, January 14, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / fr.jpost.com
  11. ↑ German Police Take Down Israeli Flags to Appease Islamist Protesters ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: The Weekly Standard, The Blog, January 16, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.weeklystandard.com
  12. ↑ Consequences after removing the flag? - Israel flags were forcibly removed by police officers ( Memento from September 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Violent attacks - Duisburg police end anti-Israel demo , NGZ-Online
  14. ↑ Removal of Israel flags causes trouble . in: Die Welt, January 15, 2009
  15. ↑ Police chief apologizes . in: DerWesten (WAZ), January 13, 2009
  16. ↑ Politicians outraged by the Duisburg flag scandal in: Spiegel online, January 15, 2009
  17. ↑ Flag scandal reaches the Minister of the Interior - outrage in the state parliament over the Duisburg police operation ( memento from September 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ The Interior Committee reprimands the police ( memento of the original from September 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Kölner Stadtanzeiger, January 16, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ksta.de
  19. ↑ Interior committee meets again on the Duisburg flag scandal  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Münstersche Zeitung, February 5, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.muensterschezeitung.de  
  20. ↑ Duisburg police end anti-Israel demo ( memento of the original from January 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . in: rp-online, January 17, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rp-online.de
  21. ^ Anti-Israel demonstration in Duisburg canceled , in: DerWesten, January 17, 2009
  22. ↑ Duisburg shows its flag . DerWesten (WAZ), January 28, 2009
  23. ↑ Opinion: Legally hanging the Israel flag . In: DerWesten , April 30, 2009
  24. ↑ GdP expects apology for hasty prejudice by the police  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . GdP website, April 30, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.gdp.de  

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