German Interior Minister Seehofer backs the brown mob
By
Peter Schwarz
8 September 2018
Ten days after a brown mob, undisturbed by the police, marched through the streets of Chemnitz, Germany, chasing down people with a different skin colour and giving the Hitler salute, there can no longer be any doubt that they have support at the highest levels of the state.
Politicians of every stripe—from Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alexander Gauland to Left Party fraction leader Sahra Wagenknecht—have spread the myth that the mob was made up of “concerned citizens,” driven into the streets by their fear of social competition and a supposed crime wave caused by foreigners—people who must be “taken seriously.” In reality, the Neo-Nazis and their milieu dare to behave so brazenly only because the government and security services fully support them.
In recent days, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has left no doubt about this. He had kept silent about the events in Chemnitz, but he finally spoke up on Wednesday during a closed-door meeting of the Christian Social Union (CSU), at which he defended the right-wing extremist demonstration. He expressed understanding for the right-wing mob, whose march, documented in numerous videos, shocked the entire world.
Seehofer said he understands “that the population is troubled, that it is angered by these crimes.” He added that the people should know “that one understands such outrage following such a brutal crime.” In an interview the next day with the Rheinische Post he was even more open in his support for the fascistic mob. “If I weren’t a minister,” he said, “I too would have taken to the streets as a citizen.”
Seehofer did not stop there. He sought to outdo from the right the xenophobic propaganda of…