Germany’s Merkel Calls for Tougher Coronavirus Lockdown Measures
AfD chief Alice Weidel: Merkel “locks up citizens and destroys entire industries.”
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for tougher Coronavirus lockdown measures throughout the country to slow the spread.
Germans who refuse to obey the government Coronavirus order may end up celebrating the “last Christmas with the grandparents,” Merkel crudely warned. If people “have too many contacts now before Christmas, and that ends up making it the last Christmas with the grandparents.”
The remarks come as Germany has been in a nationwide lockdown since early November. Chancellor Merkel had earlier “guaranteed” the easing of restrictions before Christmas. She has since walked back on that promise.
Merkel’s comments reflect the growing worries about the second wave of the Chinese virus, which began last month. On Wednesday, Germany confirmed a record daily death toll of 590 people, taking the total number of fatalities to 19,932 since the virus first arrived from central China. The country registered more than 1.2 million cases of the pandemic.
German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported Merkel’s remarks:
Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for much tougher restrictions on public life going into Christmas. She came out explicitly in favor of the recommendations that Germany’s National Academy of Science, Leopoldina, released on Tuesday.
They call for an end to required school attendance starting Dec. 14, an extended Christmas school break, a full closure of all but essential businesses starting December 24, and working from home to the fullest extent possible.
Merkel said she opposed opening hotels so families could meet over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays and that she agreed with recommendations to close shops after Christmas until January 10.
Merkel made her remarks in the Bundestag parliament Wednesday morning as part of the debate over the government’s 2021 budget debate. These debates are traditionally an opportunity to take stock of government performance over the previous year. Merkel’s planned retirement next year after 15 years in power means this was her final budget debate.
The opposition to Merkel’s measures came from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. “She locks up citizens and destroys entire industries,” AfD chief Alice Weidel said in the parliament.
Merkel, who is known for suppressing her public emotions, grew annoyed and irritated with AfD lawmakers who rejected her demand for tighter restrictions.
“In her speech, Chancellor Angela Merkel became more emotional than ever.” Germany’s biggest news portal T-Online commented. “Actually, we never saw her like this before.” German weekly Der Spiegel also noted that “Merkel held a very emotional speech in the Bundestag.”
Merkel’s statement came on the heels of Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s remarks saying that he will pass an ‘executive order to require masks everywhere’ when he takes over the presidency. Mainstream media commentators have lauded Merkel’s handling of the Chinese pandemic as a model for the United States.
Clip: ‘Merkel gets emotional in speech’ over lockdown
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Germany would be better off if Merkel were calling for Muslim lockout measures.
Too late – before the refugee crisis (Thanks, Obama) Germany had about 4.5 million Muslims (mainly Turks and Kurds ironically – with ‘German Kurds’ being the largest Kurdish diaspora) – now add 2.5 million more to the equation…
The Second World War is still with us. So many German males were killed, 1939-1945, that Germany, in rebuilding, needed to import Gastarbeiter (guest workers). Among the source countries was Turkey. Germany should have done their own work, just like we should have picked our own cotton. The effects of these mistakes will be felt forever.
from, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastarbeiter
The first guest workers were recruited from European nations. However, Turkey pressured West Germany to admit its citizens as guest workers. Theodor Blank, Secretary of State for Employment, opposed such agreements. He held the opinion that the cultural gap between Germany and Turkey would be too large and also held the opinion that Germany didn’t need any more laborers because there were enough unemployed people living in the poorer regions of Germany who could fill these vacancies. The United States, however, put some political pressure on Germany, wanting to stabilize and create goodwill from a potential ally. West Germany and Turkey reached an agreement in 1961.
After 1961 Turkish citizens (largely from rural areas) soon became the largest group of guest workers in West Germany. The expectation at the time on the part of both the West German and Turkish governments was that working in Germany would be only “temporary.” The migrants, mostly male, were allowed to work in Germany for a period of one or two years before returning to their home country in order to make room for other migrants. Some[quantify] migrants did return, after having built up savings for their return.
“However, Turkey pressured West Germany to admit its citizens as guest workers. Theodor Blank, Secretary of State for Employment, opposed such agreements.”
Not quite – it was the US which pressured Germany into signing the 1961 agreement, as they wanted Turkey as a partner (so Turkey’s demands had to be met)- with opponents even being Helmut Schmidt (German Chancellor from 1974-1982)…
Actually, Germany might be better off with sharia law than the despotic impulses of the current regime.
I realize that the comment above needs some explanation.
I do not wish to live under anything close to sharia law, and certainly prefer any Western constitutional order without question. There is one area, however, where sharia law is at least more honest compared to what politicians in Germany and all over the world are perpetrating now:
Sharia law is much more honest than these politicians because it does not even pretend to respect human rights. Merkel and her accomplices in politics and media on the other hand do just that. Their current excuse: “Die Volksgesundheit verlangt es!”
How dense can one person be?
Communist Chinese billions of US Dollars stole from the US taxpayer and citizens. That’s how.
China gets away with mass murder. Need any more clues about the owners of media?
Wales is the only home nation to go in to another full two week circuit breaker. End result…they have come out of their lockdown with more cases of the Chinese Death Kooties than when they went in to it for fucks sake!
So naturally their politicians are now talking about another fucking lockdown because you know, lets just keep trying the same fucking shit time after time after time because this time guys, its totally gonna fucking work!
Oh please, that was a disgusting display from Merkel. It’s isn’t tough for her. She still has her job. She still has her paycheck. And everything that makes life worth living. What she’s done is destroy everyone else’s world, family and life. So Merkel needs to stop with these pathetic and disgusting displays of remorse over the dead and dying. It’s just all a damn act and I doubt she cares what happens to the German
sheeplepeople.All these COVID lockdowns and restrictions remind me of WWI when the British and French generals sent wave after wave of soldiers to their deaths against the German defenses. Against all clear and abundant evidence these attacks were fruitless and counterproductive, they kept them up nonetheless say, just one more push and the Jerry will fold, you know.
So, how much mask wearing and how many lockdowns are required before these morons understand that these measures do not work? How many lives have to be ruined and how many of our rights and civil liberties need to be discarded just so a small number of people can avoid the obvious conclusion they are utterly and completely incompetent and destructive?
I have friend who utterly snapped yesterday – simply snapped. Incomprehensively he voted for Biden, he bought into the lie that Biden would bring back normalcy, but he snapped and went on a long expletive deleted rampage about the medical totalitarianism and voiced a desire to rebel and protest. He said he was simply not going to comply any longer.
Protect the at risk (people in long-term care facilities and the elderly with co-morbidities). Everyone else, go about your business. End this stupidity now.
Why should we give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they don’t understand?
Frau Merkel should be called to account for her actions, as should our American officials who have caused similar harm and human suffering. Their culpability can be determined at trial.
But I nodded at one blogger’s comment: “These trials are going to make Nuremberg look like a day in traffic court.”
Denying reality is rampant on the Left. Leftist logic is clearly an oxymoron. Example:If something doesn’t work, let’s try more of it.
Rule 1: Our left-wing ideas always work.
Rule 2: When they don’t work, blame right-wing obstructionism and see Rule 1.
Couple of my coworkers got CDK. (Chinese death kooties).
Kinda felt a little achey for a day. No temp, no breathing issues. Not even elevated temps. One was a 40 y.o male and his family the other is a 50 year old male and his wife. All had same symptoms.
They are the only people I know that had it.
Seems a stretch to shutdown over that.
Vaccinate the weak and let it burn through everyone else.
Angela Merkel? You can take the girl out of East Germany, but you can’t take East Germany out of the girl.
Then again, I’m being unfair to East Germany: it was way more into due process and the rule of the law than the Female Fuehrer.