Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) has rejected calls to boycott the FIFA World Cup as a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies. “I can’t understand demands for a World Cup boycott” he told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND). “I still vividly remember the debates around the World Cup in Qatar, and I already voiced the opinion back then: play football and stop trying to make politics. That would be my advice for everyone now who is getting involved with the issue”.
Dobrindt also criticized the tactics of the U.S. immigration enforcement agency ICE, which has drawn recent criticism of Trump. “The images we see in the United States are more than alienating for all of us” he said to the RND. “Such an approach is inconceivable for professionally trained and operating police forces like those in Germany, and would not be tolerated by anyone in political responsibility”. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) had expressed a similar view earlier.