An election campaign event of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) with the German Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius took place in Leipzig on 22 July. The event was disrupted by young people who criticised and exposing Germany’s role in the war in Gaza and the ongoing Turkish incursion into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
Around 200 visitors took part in the event. Minister Pistorius started by attempting to explain the importance of Germany’s ongoing military armament in order to be able to “defend itself against Russia and defend democracy by arming and supplying weapons”. While he briefly expressed his regret for the people that have died in Israeli attacks on Gaza, he explained that the attacks were part of “Israels right of self-defense”.
His statements provoked reactions from about 30 young people that had joined the event and drew attention to the “180,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip according to new estimates”, accusing Pistorius of “justifying a genocide in Gaza”.
Another young person criticised Germany’s ongoing weapon supplies to “NATO partner” Turkey, stating that these weapons are being used in the current incursion of Turkish Armed Forces into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), calling it an “occupation in violation of international law”.
“You talk so much about peace, you talk so much about defence. […] But this is not peace policy, it is war policy, you are waging war”, the young person emphasized.
Commenting on the “military armament in Germany”, that Pistorius had mentioned, another young person stood up from the audience and expressed their anger saying that “we as young people have absolutely nothing to gain from dying for German imperialism” and also emphasized that “there are many cases of abuse and sexualized violence within the Germany Army (Bundeswehr)”.
In a statement sent to Medya News, the young people who took part in the event said that they wanted to show that they “do not accept their [the German government’s] murderous policies and that we are against their wars” and called on other young people to actively participate in election events in their villages and cities to draw attention to these policies.
