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Berlin (dpa) - Police have reported to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) of difficulties on duty since the beginning of the Corona crisis.
In an online conversation with the Chancellor, a police officer from Berlin noted an increase in the propensity to use violence among people protesting against the measures taken by the federal and state governments to contain the pandemic.
"A certain reliability of the regulation and standards" is important, he emphasized.
Because even citizens who are ready in principle to abide by the rules are often not exactly in the picture about what is currently valid.
Gerke Stüven, head of the police commissioner in Wildeshausen in Lower Saxony, said that “it is difficult for us as the police to work with appeals and recommendations”.
The officials needed a “legally secure area of action”, otherwise they would not be entitled to enter properties, for example, to enforce contact restrictions.
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Merkel, meanwhile, criticized the AfD's choice of words, which had spoken of a “Corona dictatorship” in the Bundestag.
She said to the police officers: "We also have to be extremely careful, you can see from the language in the German Bundestag, that it is becoming increasingly radical in some cases" - especially on the part of the AfD, which chooses dramatic words.
"Words are always the harbinger of deeds, and that's why it is our job to really put a stop to it," she continued.
A police officer from Thuringia said that, since the beginning of the pandemic, he has heard sentences like "I don't want to do your job at the moment".
An officer from the Harz region said she would like more corona tests for police officers, who are often forced to get physically close to other people on duty, during searches, arrests or when someone offers resistance.
Merkel said that in the Corona crisis, some people were “worried that this will drag on forever” and that rights should be permanently restricted.
You could assure: "That is not so."
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Beyond Covid-19, the police also addressed the current debate on racism and right-wing extremism in the police force.
A police officer from Erfurt said that since these were only isolated cases, one had to proceed in a targeted manner in combating this phenomenon and not lump everyone together.
Merkel emphasized that she had “done everything especially to ensure that there was no general suspicion”.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201130-99-522028 / 2
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