Journalists were attacked on the sidelines of a meeting at the new right-wing publisher Götz Kubitschek in Schnellroda at the end of January. The Media collective “Recherche Nord”, which works with various media outlets as well as the taz, has now published a video about it.
The journalists were on site on January 24th with a team of three and were accompanied by professional security staff. When they wanted to document the journey to a network meeting, some participants became violent, photographer André Aden told the taz. “We were harassed, insulted, beaten and robbed from a group of up to 30 people.” According to Aden, radios were destroyed and personal items were stolen. The police opened investigations into bodily harm, insults and theft.
The incidents occurred on the fringes of the so-called “Winter Academy”, to which Kubitschek’s Antaios publishing house went to Schnellroda had loaded. Among the guests were Martin Sellner, more famous Head of the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement from Austriaactivists from the right-wing extremist organization “Junge Tat” from Switzerland, from the right-wing women’s organization “Lukreta“as well as numerous representatives of the new AfD youth association “Generation Germany”.
Kubitschek and Sellner put the media team on the spot
The taz spoke to several witnesses from last Saturday. She also has videos and photos of some of the situations. It shows how Götz Kubitschek, among others, stands up in front of a camerawoman and comes within a few centimeters of her, which was perceived by the journalists as oppressive. Sellner is also involved. Like Kubitschek, he is in the middle of the group and in one scene he grabs the earpiece of his radio from a security guard who was accompanying the journalists.
Show other scenes Tobias Lingg, one of the leading figures of “Junge Tat”how he, together with other men, some of whom were masked, deliberately sprayed the cameramen and their companions with water in sub-zero temperatures. Another photo shows Manuel Corchia, also an activist with “Junge Tat”, hitting a photographer’s camera lens – while police officers are standing right next to him.
An attempted theft of several press and identity cards was also captured on video. A police officer had the journalists’ ID cards shown to him and then dropped them. Several men from the right-wing extremist group, including Sellner and Lingg, then stood around the ID cards. A man picked it up and tried to walk away with it, but was stopped by one of the police officers.
This incident is particularly explosive for the journalists: The private addresses on the ID cards are sometimes closed to the public because the journalists have to fear for their lives because of their work. “I can only hope that my address is not in circulation among right-wing extremists,” Aden told the taz.
Security staff criticizes the police’s assessment
One of the security guards who accompanied the journalists confirmed the described process to the taz. He asked not to be named. The security team belongs to an organization that is committed to protecting the press, whose employees are professionally trained and have already worked for the taz. The men and women have years of experience with such heated situations. According to the security guard, the situation was invasive and threatening and could have been worse without the protection of his team. It is fortunate that no one was injured.
The security guard also criticized the police, who should have assessed the situation in the town of Schnellroda around the right-wing publisher Götz Kubitschek differently. For a long time, only two local police officers were on site without backup. “The police must take violence and hostility to the press from the right much more seriously,” the security guard told the taz.
For the photographer Aden, the attacks fit into a pattern. Although there have been attacks on journalists in Schnellroda in previous years, they escalated even further on the weekend of January 24th: “What happened here gives an idea of what the AfD is planning to do in Saxony-Anhalt and nationwide: the right wing is exerting targeted influence.” What this looks like in practice can be seen in Schnellroda, where, according to those affected, “basic rights are suspended” and “the street is actually being appropriated,” as Aden says.
AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is particularly dangerous
According to the specialist journalist, who has been observing the activities of Götz Kubitschek and other right-wing extremists for years, the connections between the “New Right”, AfD and right-wing extremist youth organizations in Saxony-Anhalt are particularly close. He is worried about the prospect of the state elections in September. According to surveys, the AfD has been by far the strongest force there for months. A government majority seems possible.
Just a few days ago he had MDR reported on a draft of the party program, which envisages a fundamental restructuring of the state. The central leitmotif is apparently the so-called “Remigration” – a concept that was coined by, among others, the right-wing extremist Martin Sellner and envisages mass deportations and racist expulsions of migrants.
The fact that the right-wing extremists also expect success and therefore feel more unassailable was shown in statements in Schnellroda on Saturday a week ago. Sellner stood up in front of one of the journalists and explained to the camera: “You know what happens when a society that has been kept in fear and oppression collectively loses this fear. That will soon be coming to you.” A statement that can be understood as a threat and should be taken seriously.