BERLIN: German law enforcement authorities on Thursday carried out raids across Germany against people suspected of posting misogynistic hate speech on the Internet as part of a coordinated push to shine the spotlight on online violence against women.
Police raided homes and interrogated 45 suspects in 11 states early Thursday. None of the suspects were detained, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office said in a statement. Another 37 suspects were already searched and interrogated in previous weeks and months.
The raids were part of a “combating misogyny on the Internet” day of action, which comes one day before International’s Women’s Day.
“We are observing how online platforms are increasingly becoming the scene of hate, harassment and discrimination, also targeting especially women,” said Holger Muench, the head of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office.
“Today’s day of action makes it clear: we consciously go into the spaces of hate, identify acts and perpetrators, take them out of anonymity and bring them to accountability.”
Muench said the initiative grew out of a joint project by investigators and prosecutors two years ago who worked “intensively on the prosecution of misogyny online.”
Before Thursday’s raids, investigators had been working for a long time to identify alleged perpetrators hiding behind the anonymity offered by the Internet.
In Germany, sweeping slurs against women can be punishable as incitement to hatred.
In preparation for the raids, authorities scoured the Internet for posts that potentially broke anti-misogyny laws and attempted to identify the authors. The names of the suspects will then be forwarded to the public prosecutor’s offices in the states where they live in order to decide whether to proceed or not with criminal prosecution.
Communications that are considered illegal include posts in which women are slandered and insulted in a sexualized manner, or publicly encouraged to send nude photos. The authorities also flagged posts that advocated rape or sexual assault or that distributed videos of torture or killing.
The raids concentrated on suspects who had set their sights on well-known women like female politicians — often the target of misogynistic hatred online. Investigators also sought out suspects who have threatened women not in the public eye.
Despite the law, online posts that degrade or threaten women often go unpunished, and many women say they avoid public attention fearing online attacks.
The raids were carried out in a coordinated effort by Germany’s Central Office for Combating Cybercrime in Frankfurt, the Federal Criminal Police Office, and several state law enforcement agencies.
German police conduct raids against people suspected of posting misogynistic hate speech online
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German police conduct raids against people suspected of posting misogynistic hate speech online
- Police raided homes and interrogated 45 suspects in 11 states early Thursday
- The initiative grew out of a joint project by investigators and prosecutors two years ago who worked “intensively on the prosecution of misogyny online”
Tens of thousands protest in Minneapolis over fatal ICE shooting
- Federal-state tensions escalated further on Thursday when a US Border Patrol agent in Portland, Oregon, shot and wounded a man and woman in their car after an attempted vehicle stop
MINNEAPOLIS: Tens of thousands of people marched through Minneapolis on Saturday to decry the fatal shooting of a woman by a US immigration agent, part of more than 1,000 rallies planned nationwide this weekend against the federal government’s deportation drive. The massive turnout in Minneapolis despite a whipping, cold wind underscores how the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Wednesday has struck a chord, fueling protests in major cities and some towns. Minnesota’s Democratic leaders and the administration of President Donald Trump, a Republican, have offered starkly different accounts of the incident.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Minneapolis police estimate tens of thousands present at protests on Saturday
• Mayor urges protesters to remain peaceful and not ‘take the bait’ from Trump
• Over 1,000 ‘ICE Out’ rallies planned across US
• Minnesota Democrats denied access to ICE facility outside Minneapolis
Led by a team of Indigenous Mexican dancers, demonstrators in Minneapolis, which has a metropolitan population of 3.8 million, marched toward the residential street where Good was shot in her car.
’HEARTBROKEN AND DEVASTATED’
The boisterous crowd, which the Minneapolis Police Department estimated in the tens of thousands, chanted Good’s name and slogans such as “Abolish ICE” and “No justice, no peace — get ICE off our streets.”
“I’m insanely angry, completely heartbroken and devastated, and then just like longing and hoping that things get better,” Ellison Montgomery, a 30-year-old protester, told Reuters.
Minnesota officials have called the shooting unjustified, pointing to bystander video they say showed Good’s vehicle turning away from the agent as he fired. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has maintained that the agent acted in self-defense because Good, a volunteer in a community network that monitors and records ICE operations in Minneapolis, drove forward in the direction of the agent who then shot her, after another agent had approached the driver’s side and told her to get out of the car.
The shooting on Wednesday came soon after some 2,000 federal officers were dispatched to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in what DHS has called its largest operation ever, deepening a rift between the administration and Democratic leaders in the state. Federal-state tensions escalated further on Thursday when a US Border Patrol agent in Portland, Oregon, shot and wounded a man and woman in their car after an attempted vehicle stop. Using language similar to its description of the Minneapolis incident, DHS said the driver had tried to “weaponize” his vehicle and run over agents.
The two DHS-related shootings prompted a coalition of progressive and civil rights groups, including Indivisible and the American Civil Liberties Union, to plan more than 1,000 events under the banner “ICE Out For Good” on Saturday and Sunday. The rallies have been scheduled to end before nightfall to minimize the potential for violence.
In Philadelphia, protesters chanted “ICE has got to go” and “No fascist USA,” as they marched from City Hall to a rally outside a federal detention facility, according to the local ABC affiliate. In Manhattan, several hundred people carried anti-ICE signs as they walked past an immigration court where agents have arrested migrants following their hearings.
“We demand justice for Renee, ICE out of our communities, and action from our elected leaders. Enough is enough,” said Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible.
DEMONSTRATIONS MOSTLY PEACEFUL
Minnesota became a major flashpoint in the administration’s efforts to deport millions of immigrants months before the Good shooting, with Trump criticizing its Democratic leaders amid a massive welfare fraud scandal involving some members of the large Somali-American community there.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat who has been critical of immigration agents and the shooting, told a press conference earlier on Saturday that the demonstrations have remained mostly peaceful and that anyone damaging property or engaging in unlawful activity would be arrested by police.
“We will not counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos,” Frey said. “He wants us to take the bait.”
More than 200 law enforcement officers were deployed Friday night to control protests that led to $6,000 in damage at the Depot Renaissance Hotel and failed attempts by some demonstrators to enter the Hilton Canopy Hotel, believed to house ICE agents, the City of Minneapolis said in a statement.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara said some in the crowd scrawled graffiti and damaged windows at the Depot Renaissance Hotel. He said the gathering at the Hilton Canopy Hotel began as a “noise protest” but escalated as more than 1,000 demonstrators converged on the site, leading to 29 arrests.
“We initiated a plan and took our time to de-escalate the situation, issued multiple warnings, declaring an unlawful assembly, and ultimately then began to move in and disperse the crowd,” O’Hara said.
HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES TURNED AWAY FROM ICE FACILITY
Three Minnesota congressional Democrats showed up at a regional ICE headquarters near Minneapolis on Saturday morning, where protesters have clashed with federal agents this week, but were denied access. Legislators called the denial illegal.
“We made it clear to ICE and DHS that they were violating federal law,” US Representative Angie Craig told reporters as she stood outside the Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul with Representatives Kelly Morrison and Ilhan Omar.
Federal law prohibits DHS from blocking members of Congress from entering ICE detention sites, but DHS has increasingly restricted such oversight visits, prompting confrontations with Democratic lawmakers.
“It is our job as members of Congress to make sure those detained are treated with humanity, because we are the damn United States of America,” Craig said.
Referencing the damage and protests at Minneapolis hotels overnight, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the congressional Democrats were denied entry to ensure “the safety of detainees and staff, and in compliance with the agency’s mandate.” She said DHS policies require members of Congress to notify ICE at least seven days in advance of facility visits.
