Klöckner is dismayed by “so little outrage” as a result of the Palestine flag in front of the Reichstag

Bundestag President Julia Klöckner has sharply criticized the hoisting of the Palestine flag in front of the Bundestag by an activist. “I was also outraged that the whole thing was met with so little outrage,” said Klöckner at the state party conference of the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU in her constituency in Idar-Oberstein.

Last Sunday, a man climbed the flagpole in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin and replaced the large black, red and gold flag with a Palestinian flag.

Klöckner said she had filed a criminal complaint and would also demand compensation. “If this so-called activist who hoisted the Palestine flag on the German Bundestag, in a criminal act, and tore down the German flag and threw it in the dirt, had he done that in this area for which he was demonstrating, he would no longer be walking around freely today.”

The black, red and gold flag is a national symbol that stands for values, emphasized Klöckner. She named: freedom, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of demonstration, equality and self-determination.

After the incident, the Berlin police announced that they would adapt the external protection measures for the Bundestag accordingly. Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei had also suggested the introduction of a ban mile with which meetings and demonstrations could be banned in a certain area. They are currently permitted around the Reichstag building and surrounding Bundestag buildings under certain conditions.

In Idar-Oberstein, around 300 delegates elect a new state party executive. Prime Minister and state leader Gordon Schnieder is standing for re-election. He has no opponent. State Secretary for Economic Affairs Johannes Steiniger wants to become Secretary General again.