According to the Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei, the ferry in the port of Schlüttsiel with Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) on board was almost stormed by demonstrators on Thursday evening. The captain prevented this at the last moment by casting off again, said the shipping company’s managing director, Axel Meynköhn, to the DPA on Friday. All approximately 30 passengers who came from the Hallig were prevented from leaving the ferry. A truck driver was forced to reverse from the ramp back onto the ferry. “In my view, this is coercion. This is a bad process,” said Meynköhn. There could also have been medical emergencies on board.
The captain, with the bodyguards on board and after consultation with the police on land, decided to cast off again. “If this decision had been made a minute later, the ferry would have been stormed.” The managing director said he knew from the crew that people would have jumped over if the ship had not already been too far away. “It wasn’t a minute too late, otherwise the mob would have been on board, with unimaginable consequences.”
The ferry then drove back to Hallig Hooge with all passengers on board. It is no longer just about Robert Habeck, who was privately on Hooge, it is about the entire ship, its passengers and its crew, emphasized Meynköhn. “There was clearly coercion here. As far as we know, there has never been such an incident in the shipping company’s almost 140-year history.”
