Dangerous corona deniers “lateral thinking 711” target schools

The Ministry for Schools and Education North Rhine-Westphalia issued a warning on its homepage that the initiative “lateral thinking 711” intends to carry out campaigns against the wearing of mouth and nose covers in 1000 schools across Germany on the historic date of November 9th. According to information from the ministry, “parents who are members of the initiative or are close to it should address children and their relatives on the way to school and offer them ineffective masks with a logo of the initiative and a CO2 measurement under the masks of the children in order to be able to respond to the to point out the alleged danger and ineffectiveness of the masks. “

After the riots of the demonstrations in Leipzig on Saturday, the warning from the ministry makes more than sense. The demonstration with more than 20,000 corona deniers and right-wing extremists got out of control after its justified dissolution, the police no longer had a chance to protect people in downtown Leipzig. Now children and young people are also to be instrumentalized for the dangerous ideologies in Germany. The Ministry of Education makes it clear: “The principle of political neutrality continues to apply to schools. In addition to the impartiality of the school, however, the care for the students is also a guiding principle. Since, according to the present press reports, it is to be expected that schoolchildren and their parents may be called upon to violate applicable legal norms (e.g. obligation to wear a suitable mouth and nose cover) with which they can test their health or the health of others ( also in school), the school’s educational mandate and the duty of care require that pupils be sensitized in advance and informed about the possible consequences of such behavior. (…) Within the framework of the free and democratic basic order, the school respects different views, including among pupils. However, this does not include actions that lead to legal violations, health hazards or endangering the peace of the school. The conscious wearing of unsuitable mouth and nose covers on the school premises as well as urging other students to violate the Corona Care Ordinance in the school therefore represent breaches of duty that can be punished with educational influences and regulatory measures in accordance with Section 53 of the NRW Schools Act. The same applies if the extracurricular behavior of pupils leads to a disturbance of the school peace and hinders the educational work of the school (e.g. if pupils are pressured directly in front of the school premises, called to violate the Corona Care Ordinance or when accessing the school School are disabled). “

The “lateral thinking 711” founder Michael Ballweg, however, wrote in his press release on November 5th, 2020 that there is no corresponding plan for November 9th. He actually wants to make people believe that the action is a test of his communication structures. But that can be sent into the world of fake news, because already in October there were detailed plans for this action in a Cologne newspaper. Whether naivety or conscious action: The “Querdenker 711” are playing with fire because they are creating new fields of agitation and action for right-wing extremist groups and their parliamentary arm.

Schools are called upon to call the public order office or the police in the event of organized legal violations, health hazards for students and teachers or the endangerment of school peace in order to punish such violations.

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