Armin Laschet

Anti-coal demonstration in Garzweiler: activists occupy lignite excavators

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BAnti-coal opponents occupied a coal excavator in the Garzweiler opencast mine in the Rhineland on Sunday. The climate activist Luisa Neubauer, who took part in a rally on site, defended the action. The injustice here is so great that you have to defend yourself against it, she told the German press agency. In the afternoon the police stopped the operation.

According to various estimates, between 1,000 and 3,000 people took part in the rally. They stood in a ring around the village of Lützerath, which is to be dredged away for lignite extraction, while observing the distance rules.

“In the midst of the climate crisis, sacrificing old villages including historic churches, school buildings and fertile fields for a huge opencast mine is an unforgivable mistake,” criticized the Greenpeace climate expert Bastian Neuwirth. “If North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) wants to take responsibility for the whole of Germany as a potential candidate for Chancellor, then he must now start with climate protection in his home country.”

Neubauer: The coal compromise is outdated

RWE wants to demolish five villages for open pit mining. This is part of the coal compromise reached by the federal and state governments, argues the group. The coal phase-out has been decided by law, and RWE is making a major contribution to this. The coal among the villages will be needed as early as 2024.

Neubauer described the coal compromise reached at the beginning of 2019 as outdated. “Since the coal commission, the situation has changed radically,” said the 24-year-old Fridays for Future activist. “A coal compromise as it was concluded back then would already be unthinkable today. Today we understand how quickly we have to get out of coal in order to be able to comply with the Paris climate agreement. And we also know that we can do it. “

The demonstration was peaceful. When the excavator was occupied in the early morning, however, there were violent attacks. The environmental protection movement Extinction Rebellion accused security guards from RWE of choking, pushing and knocking a journalist to the ground. They also took away her press card and destroyed her camera.

An RWE spokesman rejected this representation. Rather, two RWE employees were violently overrun. You would have filed a complaint. Since the ban on filming and photography had been violated despite repeated requests, a camera was seized and handed over to the police. Extinction Rebellion spokesman Lukas Schnermann denied this: “We certainly did not act violently,” he said. The occupiers were also the first to be on the excavator, after which the security guards came.

The police announced in the evening that seven people had climbed onto the coal excavator and occupied it. An activist finally left the platform of the excavator voluntarily; the others had been “removed” from the excavator by the afternoon. A total of twelve activists were taken into police custody to establish their identity.

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Complete closure of daycare centers is the very last resort

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BMinister of Family Affairs Franziska Giffey wants to avoid the daycare centers being closed again. “The complete closure is the very last resort,” said the SPD politician on Monday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. However, all necessary measures would have to be taken for this. “Hygiene is the be-all and end-all, ventilation behavior is very important.” In addition, there should be fixed groups as possible. If this is not possible, the daycare centers should at least ensure that the infection process can be traced in case of doubt.

She also spoke out in favor of free CoronaTests in daycare centers. Educators should be able to be tested at any time without symptoms, said Giffey on Monday in the ZDF morning magazine. In the new daycare year with the planned 100 percent regular operation, it is a matter of taking all measures to counteract an infection. In August she wanted to convene a nationwide “Corona-Kita-Rat” with parents, sponsors, states and municipalities.

When asked about nationwide regulations, Giffey said that the federal states would definitely like to enforce their own rules. This jurisdiction of the countries must be respected. “The federal government accompanies and supports.” Giffey believes that a mask requirement for daycare centers is “impractical”.

Laschet: “Have to be careful, especially at the beginning”

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Armin Laschet has meanwhile defended the mask requirement for older children in the classrooms of his state. “Everywhere where the distance cannot be kept, we have to be careful right at the beginning,” said the CDU politician on Monday in the ZDF “morning magazine”. Regarding the question of whether the obligation is reasonable in view of the current high temperatures, Laschet said: “Yes, that is reasonable. There are certain rules for children who are sick or who have special things to consider. “

With the Mask requirement, which even applies to classes at secondary and vocational schools in North Rhine-Westphalia from the start of school on Wednesday, NRW has taken a special nationwide path. The prime minister argued that the number of infections is very high, especially in urban areas. The obligation applies until the end of August. “I think this is a precaution that is right at the beginning,” said Laschet. “You won’t be able to do that in the long run, but we need better experience for that.”

The President of the German Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, believes that a mask requirement in classrooms is indispensable if lessons are to take place in the usual way. “If you want full lessons, you can’t avoid the mask requirement,” Meidinger told the “Passauer Neue Presse” (Monday). The new school year started on Monday in Berlin and Brandenburg.

Neither teachers nor students are fans of the mask requirement. “But that is probably the sacrifice that we have to make, at least temporarily, in order to prevent a second wave of infections,” emphasized Meidinger. He described it as “ludicrous” that masks and distance regulations are mandatory in supermarkets, trains, buses, restaurants and at events and that both are dispensed with in schools.

“The hygiene protection measures currently being implemented in Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where school operations have started, are certainly not sufficient to compensate for the elimination of the distance rule in classrooms,” he told the newspaper. With its limited mask requirement, North Rhine-Westphalia is also going the right way in the classroom.

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Security policy: The spectacular recommendations of the Bosbach Commission

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WWith a wink, olfgang Bosbach issued a warning that sounded more harmless than it was thought. “We hope that we did not do the work for the library of the State Chancellery,” said the CDU politician. Bosbach addressed these words to NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU).

After more than two years of work, 26 internal meetings and 17 on-site visits, the government commission “More Security for North Rhine-Westphalia” – or in short: Bosbach Commission – presented its proposals in a final report.

Any concern that this 149-page report will be without consequences is probably unfounded.

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NRW state government extends restrictions in Gütersloh

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NAfter the Corona outbreak at the meat processor Tönnies, public life in the Gütersloh district remains restricted for another week until July 7th. For the neighboring district of Warendorf, on the other hand, restrictions expire at midnight on Wednesday, as NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) said in Düsseldorf on Monday.

The Robert Koch Institute published new figures on the so-called seven-day incidence on Monday night. The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the district of Gütersloh has been well above the 50 mark within the past seven days. Accordingly, the downward trend continued after very high values ​​due to the corona outbreak at meat processor Tönnies. According to the latest RKI data, there have been 112.6 such cases in the Gütersloh district within the past seven days after 132.9 on Sunday and 164.2 on Saturday. On Tuesday, this had been 270.2.

According to the RKI figures, the Gütersloh district remains the only district in Germany above the important mark of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the past seven days. The background is the massive outbreak of the corona virus at the Tönnies meat plant in Rheda-Wiedenbrück in the district. The regional lockdown, which has been in effect since Wednesday, was previously limited to June 30.

Laschet: “The results make us confident”

In the Warendorf district, which also has many Tönnies employees, the key indicator for combating the pandemic had dropped below the important 50 mark in the past seven days at 47.9 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. According to data from Monday, the value is currently 22.0 cases.

According to Laschet, after the Corona outbreak at Tönnies, the virus has hardly spread to the rest of the population, according to the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia. If one extracts the Tönnies employees, the key indicator of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the Gütersloh district has been 22.5 within the past seven days. In the neighboring district of Warendorf it was 5.4 – also excluding the Tönnies employees. “The results are encouraging,” said the Prime Minister.

As the state government further announced, the current regulations of the Corona Protection Ordinance in NRW will be extended by a further two weeks until at least July 15, 2020. This includes, among other things, the mask requirement for certain areas.

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Usedom sends back 14 people from Corona-risk area

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Auf the holiday island of Usedom are invited on Monday, 14 people from Corona-risk areas, in advance to leave. You need to Pomerania immediately to your local health Department to report, said Achim Froitzheim, a spokesperson for the circle of Greifswald, the German press Agency on Tuesday. When paying the tourist tax, the Problem had become noticeable.

On Monday, a couple from Gütersloh was asked to leave the island prematurely. In the North Rhine-Westphalian district of Gütersloh, there was a massive Corona outbreak in a meat factory, the company Tönnies. If the returned holidaymakers all come from Gütersloh, Germany, said the speaker first.

According to Froitzheim was assumed that a high number of unreported cases. The 14 cases represented only the Monday. “This is a concern for Western Pomerania, the whole holiday region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Of course, we are reluctant to send tourists, but it is our task to take the reins in the Hand.“

Froitzheim referred Vorpommern to the applicable regulation of the country of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Accordingly, persons are not permitted to enter or remain, if you come from a County or a city, where in the past seven days prior to entry, the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants is higher than 50.

According to the country regulation, but also guests from at-risk regions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania holiday. For this you need to submit a medical certificate, which confirmed that “there are no indications for the Presence of infection with the Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2.”

NRW Minister Armin Laschet (CDU), warned on Tuesday in Düsseldorf in front of it, to the people from the district of Gütersloh under “blanket suspicion”. One should not stigmatize the residents of the circle””. At the same time he announced that the public life in the district of Gütersloh with a Lockdown is being massively restricted massively.

The statements from Laschet on the topic of holiday remained inaccurate. On the one hand, the CDU-politician said on a question, whether the inhabitants of the circle Gütersloh could go on holiday, this is possible. The Lockdown means no travel ban, he said, with a view to the school holidays, which start this Saturday in NRW. At the same time, “not appealed” Laschet, but to the inhabitants to leave the circle. “This will also be controlled.” How it fits together, might explain the NRW health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) on Tuesday at 15.30. Then he makes a Statement to other measures taken by the state government in the Corona of a pandemic.

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Who is the virologist Hendrik Streeck?

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DGermany is currently divided into two: some play in Team Drosten, others in Team Streeck. One is a virologist in Berlin, the other a virologist in Bonn. One warns of a second wave and hasty loosening, the other assesses the virus as less dangerous. Christian Drosten and Hendrik Streeck know each other well, exchanged regularly until Easter. Since then there has been silence between the two scientists who are currently moving the Republic. Six years of age separate the two. Streeck, the younger, looks almost youthful at 42. Looks like a model, not a scientist. Streeck likes to laugh, shows a happy face, which some find inappropriate. After all, we are living in a crisis, and a scientist from the beating of a Drosten with his mostly serious expression seems to fit in better for many.

What they have in common is that they are extremely hostile. They only do their job as scientists. The decisions that result from it make others. Both value that they do not make any political recommendations, they give their opinion, but do not close or open schools and day-care centers, beer gardens and shops.

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Boris Palmer: Drastic criticism of corona measures

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Dhe Green Party politician Boris Palmer has once again sharply criticized the global economic lockdown due to the Corona crisis. “I’ll tell you very brutally: We may save people in Germany who would be dead in six months anyway – due to their age and previous illnesses,” said the Mayor of Tübingen on Tuesday on Sat.1 breakfast television. According to the United Nations, the poverty shock that results from the global destruction of the economy is killing millions of children.

“When you look at Corona’s death toll, many people die over 80 – and we know over 80 most die sometime,” said Palmer. He had previously criticized corona containment policies and pleaded for strict quarantine measures for high-risk groups and for rapid opening of the rest of society. Palmer also recommended the use of all available test capacities on the television program and, unlike his party, advocated a mandatory cell phone app that tracks infections.

“That offends my civil education”

Theater director Frank Castorf (68) also considers the restrictions in the corona crisis to be exaggerated. At the moment, the benefits of the regulations do not correspond to the effort, the former director of the Berlin Volksbühne said in an interview with “Spiegel” and criticized the “degree of ideologization” of the decisions. “The very words” lockdown “and” shutdown “make me vicious,” he said. But he is neither a biologist nor a doctor.

“I work in the theater, so you get ready to fantasize, to think about what’s going on outside,” said Castorf. The director, who is known for his often exaggerated and provocative statements, also criticized the restrictions on freedom. “I don’t want to let Frau Merkel tell me with a tearful face that I have to wash my hands. It offends my civil education, ”he said. He also missed the “protest” of the population. “We Germans (…) are afraid of everything. We faithfully submit to the decrees of virology professors and politicians. “

He even noticed this “ugly opportunism” in the theater. Until recently, “the old white man” was the main enemy. “Now the virus is there, and suddenly everyone in the theaters, everyone old, even if they are over 80 years old and a man, should be protected at all costs,” he said. In any case, he does not see the benefit “if one simply locks up old people, who are now called risk group number one”. That breaks the psyche and feeds the weariness of life, said Castorf. He is not afraid of death himself. “I am not mystical or religious. I am a fatalist. If I become terminally ill, I will say: It was a good life. “

In addition, the deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki has sharply criticized the Robert Koch Institute and its president Lothar Wieler for the regularly distributed corona numbers. These “give the impression of being politically motivated numbers rather than scientifically sound,” said Kubicki of the German Press Agency. He pointed in particular to the number of reproductions, which according to RKI has increased nationwide from 0.9 to 1.0. While Prime Minister Markus Söder announced an R-value of 0.57 for Bavaria, the country with the most infections, the RKI reported a value of 1 nationwide, Kubicki said.

“Where this value is supposed to come from with falling infection rates is not even clear to the most well-meaning.” It is astonishing that Wieler points to a change in method in calculating the value and now to its decreasing relative importance. “It does not help to consider the daily water level reports of the institute to be serious.” In addition, the values ​​determined by the Helmholtz Center and the TU Ilmenau deviated significantly from the estimates of the RKI, said Kubicki, who is also Vice President of the Bundestag is. “A prankster who thinks bad about it. The RKI’s R-value increases precisely at the Chancellor’s conference with the Prime Ministers, at which warnings of further easing are to be given. “

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Drastic criticism of Corona measures by Boris Palmer

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Dhe Green Party politician Boris Palmer has once again sharply criticized the global economic lockdown due to the Corona crisis. “I’ll tell you very brutally: We may save people in Germany who would be dead in six months anyway – due to their age and previous illnesses,” said the Mayor of Tübingen on Tuesday on Sat.1 breakfast television. According to the United Nations, the poverty shock that results from the global destruction of the economy is killing millions of children.

“When you look at corona deaths, many people die over 80 – and we know over 80 most die sometime,” Palmer said. He had previously criticized corona containment policies and pleaded for strict quarantine measures for high-risk groups and for rapid opening of the rest of society. Palmer also recommended the use of all available test capacities on the television program and, unlike his party, advocated a mandatory cell phone app that tracks infections.

“That offends my civil education”

Theater director Frank Castorf (68) also considers the restrictions in the corona crisis to be exaggerated. At the moment, the benefits of the regulations do not correspond to the effort, the former director of the Berlin Volksbühne said in an interview with “Spiegel” and criticized the “degree of ideologization” of the decisions. “The very words” lockdown “and” shutdown “make me vicious,” he said. But he is neither a biologist nor a doctor.

“I work in the theater, so you get ready to fantasize, to think about what’s going on outside,” said Castorf. The director, who is known for his often exaggerated and provocative statements, also criticized the restrictions on freedom. “I don’t want to let Frau Merkel tell me with a tearful face that I have to wash my hands. It offends my civil education, ”he said. He also missed the “protest” of the population. “We Germans (…) are afraid of everything. We faithfully submit to the decrees of virology professors and politicians. “

He even noticed this “ugly opportunism” in the theater. Until recently, “the old white man” was the main enemy. “Now the virus is there, and suddenly everyone in the theaters, everyone old, even if they are over 80 years old and a man, should be protected at all costs,” he said. In any case, he does not see the benefit “if one simply locks up old people, who are now called risk group number one”. That breaks the psyche and feeds the weariness of life, said Castorf. He is not afraid of death himself. “I am not mystical or religious. I am a fatalist. If I become terminally ill, I will say: It was a good life. “

In contrast, SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans finds the recent statements by the President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) on the corona measures “dangerous”. With the statement that everything cannot be subordinated to the protection of life, Schäuble gave some the impression that “now it is also good with the restrictions”, criticized Walter-Borjans in the newspaper “Die Welt” on Tuesday. The President of the Bundestag, on the other hand, received support from NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) and the Chairman of the German Ethics Council.

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Criticism of Bundesliga for ghost game plans

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DThe German Foundation for Patient Protection has criticized the plans of the German Football League (DFL) to host ghost games soon. “It is arrogant and arrogant in which way the German Football League wants to secure priority for Covid 19 tests. In view of the suffering of the Corona crisis, this is indecent, ”said board member Eugen Brysch in an interview with the ZDF online news service.

In contrast, DFL boss Christian Seifert had only repeatedly stressed on Thursday not to claim any special role for football and to leave the decision to restart play to the political decision-makers. There have also been repeated reports in the past few days that the laboratories are underutilized. To this end, the DFL had concluded a cooperation agreement with a total of five laboratory associations, which had assured that the current capacities are sufficient and that Covid-19 will not limit the test capacities. The DFL is expecting around 20,000 tests to carry out the remaining match days.

Political demands

On May 9, the Bundesliga could continue its season after almost two months off Corona. Prime Minister Markus Söder (Bavaria) and Armin Laschet (North Rhine-Westphalia) brought this date into discussion on Monday. “Such deals will not get any better if they have the blessings of the Federal Minister of Health and some prime ministers,” added Brysch, who asked the politicians to work for “the systematic testing of high-risk patients, their relatives, nurses and doctors”.

The Vice President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lars Schaade, has tended to give a positive rating to a concept by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) on occupational safety and health when the Bundesliga could start again. “What is in there and what concerns the considerations to solve that with a quarantine: That seem to me to be quite reasonable considerations,” said Schaade on Friday.

He does not see the RKI as responsible for the final evaluation of the plans to restart the game. It is an occupational safety problem. “These are soccer professionals. That is their job, and so there is a concept that has been drawn up from the occupational health and safety side, ”he explained.

In the ministry draft, which was initially reported by “Spiegel”, a permanent quarantine is proposed as an option for all persons involved in the game until the end of the season. The isolation could take place in sufficiently large hotels, for example. In addition, the Federal Ministry of Labor is also considering a proposal to let professionals play with face masks to protect against the corona virus, which the F.A.Z. reported. This emerges from the ministry’s paper in response to the hygiene concept of the German Football League (DFL). The paper was the first draft at the working level, said a ministry spokesman.

According to this, players and referees should wear mouth-nose protection according to medical standards during the games. These should not slip during the game, otherwise the game must be interrupted immediately. There should also be an interruption every 15 minutes so that the masks could be replaced.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Labor said that they were in discussions with the DFL on occupational health and safety issues if the game could resume. “Our aim is to find practicable solutions that are also widely accepted.” The decision to restart games is not made by the Federal Ministry of Labor.

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