The head of Germany’s Die Welt newspaper Ulf Poschardt has denounced the violence caused by left-wing extremists calling the rioting, “the new fascist violence of the left”.
Mr. Poschardt, who serves as the editor in chief of Die Welt, slammed the so-called “black-block” left-extremists in a new column likening them to the Blackshirts who committed acts of political violence under Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the 1920s.
“Their black costume reveals that their aesthetic is inspired by Mussolini’s black shirts. They act like fascists. They stir up fear and uncertainty. The Black Block has been turning Hamburg into a civil war landscape since Thursday evening,” he wrote.
“In the run-up to the G-20 summit, there are always two kinds of protest: the one idealistic peaceful but over and over again – the hate-filled dream of a broken dystopia, as in the Batman movie ‘The Dark Knight Rises’,” he added.
Calling the members of the black-block, many of which are neither from Hamburg nor even Germany, “adventure tourists” Poschardt paints the average left-extremist as young men in “late puberty” who have, “no more to offer politically than an archaic accumulation of rage and a regime of fear”.
The problem with left-extremists has been building up for years according to Poschardt. He said that in the past police and authorities had made mistakes by “confusing squatters with homeowners”, and allowing public spaces to be cleared of right-wing opinions by “antifascists with their fascist love of power”.
After the left-extremist left 130 police injured and caused massive damage to property Thursday night, Poschardt points out the left wing Green party has placed the blame on the police. “This is grotesque in the face of the articulated threats of violence and a motto such as ‘Welcome to Hell’,” he writes.
The Welt chief also notes the traditional idea of the left representing the working class is also largely a myth. He said that real working people were far more likely to be on the police side during a protest than the protestors who he describes as wearing expensive Northface jackets and “sneakers from the hipster shop”.
Poschardt is one of the few German media personalities to call out left wing extremism in such certain and blunt terms, though he has made controversial remarks in the past. No fan of U.S. President Donald Trump, Poschardt claimed that the best way for Germans to combat the ideas of the U.S. president was to bee “more gay”.