German Police Investigate Right-Wing Politician for ‘Anti-Muslim’ Tweet
"Anti-Islamic tweet" by the AfD politician "could be a criminal offence," says Cologne police.
1.2.2018
21
After a dismal performance in apprehending the culprits of the mass sexual assaults of the 2015 New Years’ Eve, Cologne police have swung into full action against a right-wing politician for an allegedly “anti-Muslim” tweet, German media reports.
Police have told prosecutors to investigate Beatrix von Storch (pictured above), a senior member of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, for criticizing the department for tweeting in Arabic “to appease the barbaric, Muslim, rapist hordes of men.”
German newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reported:
Cologne police have filed the complaint against the AfD politician Beatrix von Storch on charges of hate speech following an anti-Muslim tweet. A spokesperson for the police confirmed that there are initial grounds for suspicion that the tweet posted by the right-wing politician could amount to a criminal offense. [Translation by the author]
Twitter also suspended Storch’s account for several hours. The tweet was swiftly removed by Twitter citing a company rule against hateful content.
Starting January 1, a new online censorship law comes into effect in Germany. Social media platforms operating in the country will face heavy fines if they fail to remove ‘hateful posts’ in timely fashion.
According to Germany’s state-run broadcaster Deutsche Welle, “companies like Facebook and Twitter have hired extra staff to monitor such messages.” Deutsche Welle further reports:
A top lawmaker from (…) the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was blocked from Twitter and Facebook on Monday after slamming the Cologne police for sending a New Year's tweet in Arabic. (...)
The Cologne police tweeted New Year's greetings and linked to information on celebrating safely in a series of messages in German and other languages, including Arabic. Cologne was the scene two years ago of mass sexual assaults on New Year's Eve in which most of the suspects were described as young men of North African and Arab origin.
"What the hell is happening in this country? Why is an official police site tweeting in Arabic? Do you think it is to appease the barbaric, gang-raping hordes of Muslim men?" wrote Beatrix von Storch, the deputy leader of the AfD's parliamentary group.
The tweet was later deleted after Twitter froze von Storch's account and informed her she had violated hate speech rules. Her account was shut down for 12 hours. The Cologne police said on Monday that they had filed a criminal complaint against von Storch for hate speech.
The Cologne police who flung into action against a tweet that might cause more Muslim offense-taking took days to even acknowledge the mass sexual assaults which took place on the fateful New Years’ Eve right at the city’s main square two years ago.
Despite one high-level inquiry after another, city police have very little to show for in terms of results. Of thousands of migrant men who raped, assaulted and robbed more than 1200 women, almost all of them have managed to walk free. According to the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state where Cologne is located, “Most of [these] cases will remain unsolved.”
Apparently in Merkel’s Germany, a supposedly hurtful “anti-Muslim” tweet constitutes a greater offense than actual crimes fueled by the German Chancellor’s open borders policy.
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