Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) has accused the Berlin Left Party of defaming police officers and aligning itself more closely with chaos than with the officers themselves. Speaking to the television channel Welt, Herrmann stated that the desire for police to leave the capital is not surprising.
He remarked that while the government does not want to recruit officers away from Berlin, the current news is certainly alarming because it demonstrates that what is unfolding in Berlin-what is being debated within the Red-Green-Red coalition-is visibly deterrent to police officers. This situation raises major concerns about how internal security in Berlin should proceed, especially since the city-state already possesses the highest crime burden among all 16 federal states.
Herrmann warned that anyone, like the Left Party, who continues to distance themselves from the police and repeatedly defames officers in this situation “needs no surprise if police officers decide to turn their backs on the city of Berlin.”
The minister also criticized Left Party leader Ines Schwerdtner for showing solidarity with organizers of social protests at a student event. Herrmann found the Left Party chair’s recent statements deeply problematic. He argued that her willingness to reference France as a model for mobilization, while simultaneously pledging support to police officers if they were attacked in Germany, reflects a worldview that is “completely indisputable.” He asserted that this demonstrates the Left Party places more trust in “chaos” than in the uniformed police.
Herrmann concluded by calling this a “devastating message for safety in our federal capital,” stating that it serves as an alarm signal not only for the people of Berlin but for “all of us in Germany.”
