2023-07-01 13:15:38
It’s a big celebration of the European elite, politicians and the banking world. The European Central Bank has turned 25 years old. On the evening of May 24, the leaders of the EU, numerous European heads of government, Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz came to the anniversary in Frankfurt am Main to celebrate with ECB President Christine Lagarde. Lots of celebrity in one place. And lots of bodyguards.
What happened shortly before the chancellor’s return flight to Berlin at Frankfurt Airport doesn’t seem to fit the cheerful evening. It could have radically changed the history of the Federal Republic, could have become Germany’s Kennedy moment. A man who has no business being in the security area of the airport drives up to the chancellor’s plane in his car. He gets out and gets very close to Olaf Scholz. He shakes his hand and hugs him. Nobody intervenes.
It’s not difficult to imagine how such a situation could have ended less happily, given terms such as a knife, a gun, an explosive belt, or a bomb in the trunk. The CSU politician Günther Beckstein once described an experience from his time as Bavarian Minister of the Interior. At an event dealing with theological topics, a man approached him and excitedly talked to him. His bodyguards would have torn the man away from him. Beckstein was surprised. Until the officers showed him a pair of scissors hidden in the man’s clothing. The man had been under psychiatric treatment for a long time.
At first everything goes according to plan
The incident in Frankfurt is already forgotten after a few days, after all nothing happened. For the security authorities involved, however, it is the greatest failure to be expected, a super meltdown. You have to deal with the question of how this could have happened, who failed when and where.
At first everything goes according to plan tonight. The Federal Chancellor and Finance Minister Lindner left the festival at 10:20 p.m. and got into their black limousines. Members of the delegation ride in the column, as well as the bodyguards from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), special police forces to protect the chancellor. The vehicle convoy is accompanied and guided by the Hessian state police, which is responsible for this. The column has ten vehicles in total, with a patrol car driving at the front and at the end with blue lights. There are also police officers on three motorcycles, they secure the column, known in technical jargon as a security cell, from the outside.
An Audi A5 Coupé already in the convoy
There is something special about this day. A second, smaller column is driving directly behind the Chancellor’s column. It is taking Slovakian Prime Minister Ľudovít Ódor from the ECB to the airport, so it has the same destination as the Chancellor’s column. The first incident happened on the twelve-kilometer journey. A black Audi A 5 Coupé pushed its way into the Chancellor’s column, between the last and penultimate cars in the column, according to the Hessian police. The police headquarters in Frankfurt announced that the officers who accompanied the entourage noticed the vehicle “early”. The driver is the man who will later hug the Chancellor, which nobody suspects at this point.
#barriers #open #Scholz #hugger