Germany’s foreign minister tells his fellow countrymen they’re too lazy when it comes to battling racism and fighting for democracy.
“We have to get off the couch and open the mouth,” Heiko Maas says in an interview with weekly Bild am Sonntag. “Our generation was given freedom, rule of law and democracy as a present. We didn’t have to fight for it; (now) we’re taking it too much for granted.”
Maas’s comments followed yesterday’s demonstrations by about 4,500 far-right protesters in Chemnitz, who were rallying against immigration a week after a German was killed in the eastern city, allegedly by two migrants from Iraq and Syria. Around 4,000 leftist protesters also marched through the city in a counter-protest, and 1,800 police officers were deployed to keep the groups apart.
Eighteen people, including three police officers, were injured during the rallies, which at times were very tense, especially after police ended a march of the far right groups early.
— AP
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