An event recently took place in Baden-Württemberg with the local Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann. This event was particularly noticeable because of the enormous police presence that could be seen all around. Now about a month later, the costs of this police operation has become public.

We are talking about the Lenten sermon near Biberach. Actually a typical event where a high-ranking politician shows up, chats around a bit and puts on a little self-promotion show for his voters. Those who watched his performance were initially a bit shocked on this time . Not only was there, as is typical on such occasions, a certain number of police and the politician's bodyguards present. No, rather the place in question was occupied militarily by a large police force. In addition to the police-barriers set up on all sides, 600 police officers, eight police horses, 135 police vehicles, three prisoner transport vehicles and a helicopter were at the scene and monitored Kretschmann's appearance.

A martial police presence for such an event, which of course also costs a lot of money. Some people have asked how expensive this large-scale operation actually was. Now this question has been answered. As the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced in response to a request from the AfD party, the costs for the operation amounted to a number of 330,000 euros

This large-scale operation was justified by the events on Ash Wednesday. Shortly before Kretschmann's Lenten sermon, a large public Green Party event took place nearby. More precisely, it should have taken place. However, due to large protests against it, the event must to be canceled. Numerous farmers had gathered around the venue place and blocked the roads with paving stones and sandbags. In addition, a large pile of dung was dumped in front of the town hall, where the event should take place. During thef the protests there were also clashes with the police, who used pepper spray and batons against the farmers. According to the police, the farmers answered this attacks and, among other things, threw objects at various cops and their vehicles. Three police officers are said to have been injured and a police car was damaged. A protester was arrested by the cops but there is now more repression, especially in the aftermath. To date, 41 investigations have been initiated against protesters.

Protests against the goverment-partys in Biberach. Source: Tagesschau

The fact that a ruling party cannot hold such a event because of the resistance of the people is something that many politicians do not like. As a result, following the protests there was an outcry from many politicians. "If a political event has to be canceled because of mobs and violence, then a red line has been crossed... The increasing poisoning of debates and the agitation against democratically elected politicians must come to an end," said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, and demanded that violence against emergency services must have clear criminal consequences. The green politician Kretschmann, who had to turn around in the middle of the way to the Ash Wednesday event, was also outraged and described the protests as “dangerous for democracy”. Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Strobl now took the protests on Ash Wednesday as a wake-up call on security issues and announced that political events would be protected with more police in the future. The implementation of this obviously began with Kretschmann's sermon.

While such enormous sums are being spent on securing party events, poverty in this country continues to rise. An example of this is the issue of homelessness. There is a study from 2022 by the Federal Working Group for Homeless Assistance, which found that the number of homeless people increased by over 58% compared to the previous year. About a week ago, a report from the Council of Europe was published, which notice, that poverty in Germany was continuing to increase and accused the federal government of not doing enough to stop it.

As we can see, there are more than enough ways in which the money that is so generously thrown out for the police protection of high-ranking politicians can actually be used in the interests of the people. But this is not done. It is precisely this aloofness of politicians and their ignorance for the problems of the people, which is the reason why they are right to have more and more fear of us.

First Picture: Police forces protect the Lenten Sermon of Kretschmann near to Biberach. Source SWR