Unlike the United States, Germany has no Posse Comitatus Act,
which restricts the participation of the military in domestic law enforcement activities. The Bundeswehr may be given full authority to quell potential centers of unrest, except for one thing. They have very few weapons to effectively control riots in a culturally sensitive manner.
Might be a lot of collateral damage.
Looks like the end of the big PEGIDA marches.
Gee, I’m sure the government would never use the presence of the muslims to quell their political opponents and public gatherings or anything.
Collateral damage is often necessary. But the better aim the G army has at the enrmy within. The better. And if they try to be “culturally sensitive” the fatherland will be a lost cause. (Besides, and to its credit: one normally wouldn’t look to the G army for cultural sensitivity, ha!)
Germany went through two revisions with their Constitution in terms of the Bundeswehr.
After the early 1960s Hamburg flood....they wrote a piece in that said for emergency help...the Army could be called upon and help in civilian matters.
After 9-11, they wrote another piece in and it simply said that basic support could be provided on security. That mostly ended up bringing German military organizations to US bases to act as extra security.
This final step....where troops would be armed and assuming patrols (like you see in France) is a bit more difficult for the Berlin leadership to accept. There’s still some feelings that the Army was part of the 1930s situation.
The public has no issue with the Army in a public protection role....it’s the Berlin leadership I think that is hesitant to go this next step.