A driver walked behind the German chancellor’s convoy of cars to the airport’s security area, climbed onto the runway and embraced Scholz. Only at that moment did his bodyguards realize that something was terribly wrong.
According to German media reports, there was a serious breach of the security zone around Chancellor Olaf Scholz at Frankfurt Airport on Wednesday night. According to him, a man entered the security zone of the airport and even climbed onto the runway, approached Scholz, shook hands with the surprised SPD politician and even hugged him. Only then did the bodyguards notice the intruder. The alleged 48-year-old man was arrested; For now, there is no more information about the person and the reason.
A government spokesman confirmed the incident. In preparation for the meeting with Scholz (64), the unknown managed to join the Chancellor’s convoy on the way to the airport with his car and pass through the airport barriers as part of the convoy. The barrier guards didn’t realize he didn’t belong.
No one was injured, the Federal Criminal Police said on request. Scholz had already been flown from the European Central Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt to Germany’s biggest airport. According to his spokesman, Scholz, a man from Hamburg known for his aloofness and subdued emotionality, is calm about the incident. “He never felt threatened either,” he said. The encounter surprised him, but didn’t particularly frighten him. However, there were security issues that needed to be clarified.
SPD Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced the consequences. “This must not happen,” she said after a meeting with Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakušan on Friday.
“A Breakdown for Bodyguards”
Scholz’s bodyguards admitted internally that something went wrong. The managing director of the Federal Security Industry Association, which is also responsible for private bodyguards, Martin Hildebrandt, said of the incident: “In 25 years, I have not heard anything like this. This is a disaster for bodyguards. Something must have gone wrong earlier.”
The runway at Frankfurt Airport is not accessible to non-employees and “ordinary” passengers. Journalists, for example, are checked in advance, including for explosives, if they are allowed to enter the area upon invitation.
(APA/DPA/red.)