Herrenbucht Herald

[Comrade Kermit]

MOST POPULAR NEWS SERVICE OF HERRENBUCHT

[Comrade Kermit]

CONSTITUTION CHANGE APPROVED BY COUNCIL OF NOBLES

A happy day for Duke Philipp. The constitution change that he proposed was accepted by both parliaments. While it was clear that the bill would be passed by the socialists and liberals of the Bürgersenat, it was challenging to convince the Lords of the Fürstenrat of his progressive reform that legalizes female succession. In the end it were the people of Herrenbucht who urged the Lords to accept the change. It would have been a political disaster for the nobility if they had stirred up hate among the population by excluding the popular Princess Elena from the line of succession

Her cousin Markus von Wateringas, who already hoped to become Crown Prince held a speech shortly after the voting:

Ladies and Gentlemen. It griefs me to see that Herrenbucht and even its most honorable nobles decided against their own values and broke with our tradition and culture. A woman as the leader of our country and our army is not acceptable in my eyes and there is a good reason that there never has been a Duchess in Herrenbucht before. Women aren't made for this job, and I will do anything I am capable of to take this burden from my cousin

After these words the Duke's Guard was forced to interrupt Markus's speech, because of the crowd who was getting agressive and started to throw things at the Prince


MURDERER OF PRINCE SEBASTIAN EXECUTED

After Erwin Knipser confessed that he manipulated the Prince's car, his fate was already clear. However the police kept him for a while hoping to get information about his terror group. Today the investigations were closed, and the trial, only a matter of hours resulted in a death penalty for Knipser.
The people are relieved to see Knipser die, but a feeling of danger remains, until the police has made progress at finding and arresting the other members of the republican terror group.

[Comrade Kermit]

HERZOG PHILIPP V AND HIS DAUGHTER TO ATTEND CEREMONY IN RHAND

The Duke now officially announced that he will be travelling personally, to the beatification ceremony of the crown prince of Rhand, accompanied by his daughter. Many royalist senators expressed their discontent with this decision as they do not think that Rhand is of such a big importance that it requires the attention of Duke and Crown Princess. Nevertheless the Duke has made his decision, which should be a great honor for the nobility of Rhand.

A possible reason for the Duke's visit could also be that he wants to assure good relations with our neighbors by personally meeting them and to present the new heir of Herrenbucht to Rhand as well as to the delegations of various other countries. Maybe he is even searching for a new son in law. A short interview given by Crown Princess Elena seems to give us hints. We asked her if she knew anything about a possible marriage.

As you might know my father's decision was to let me choose my future husband, however now that I am Crown Princess after all these horrible things that happened,
 there are new duties that I have to fulfill and finding a adequate spouse for the future Duchess of Herrenbucht is not my decision alone. But to answer your question. I don't think that my father or the COM has any particular candidate in mind. We will see how all of this plays out.

After the interview the Ducal Guard asked us not to publish it, but we think that this information is far too delicate to hide it from the public.

[Comrade Kermit]

THE TRAVELLING PRINCESS

The press office of the ducal family announced that crown princess Elena will not return from her trip to Rhand directly. After receiving the letter from Queen Viktorya she decided to accept the Queen's invitation. This decision has been kept secret until now. It seems like the Princess has made our Minister of Foreign affairs obsolete.

The Duke however will return to Herrenbucht after his visit in Rhand. According to his press officer he really appreciates the invitation of Queen Viktorya and thinks that his daughter will make many gains for her future as Duchess from meeting a real female monarch, although some conservatives create wild theories about a feminists conspiracy against the Duke.

HERRENBUCHTIAN BEAVER EXTINCT

Biologists confirmed that this animal is now history due to the failed fight against beaver poaching. Although the species was officialy protected, the government tolerated the poaching as it was necessary to feed the fur stocks of the government. The fur is needed for parade uniforms of the military. To biologists it seems like a bad joke that the government sacrificed this species in order to have fashionable soldiers. Even more striking is the fact that the government will now need to import furs if it wants to have enough parade uniforms for this years Great Independence Parade.

A couple hundred animal protection and pacifism activists manifested in front of the Ministry of State, but the demonstration was dissolved due to the high terror risk, since the death of Prince Sebastian II.

UNEMPLOYMENT RISES FURTHER: GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES MEASURES

We already talked about farmers losing their businesses due to the dramatically falling food prices. Mostly old farmers with small businesses are concerned. Now the quota rose to about 300.000 people who are too young to get a pension but too old to learn a new business. The government announced that they will try to pass a legislation that shows solidarity with these farmers. No exact information was yet released but experts assume that this legislation will consist of the legalization of early pensions.

[Comrade Kermit]

LABOUR UNION CONGRESS TERMINATED BY THE POLICE

The yearly held labour union congress that was before tolerated by the government was now dissolved for the first time in 12 years. The government and police suppose that the congress and the debates held there are illegal as they are actions typical for a political party. Many delegates of the Citizens' Senate took part at the congress which lead the police to this assumption. The law prohibits political debates and votings that do not take place in the Citizens' Senate and CS delegates may only do political work inside their CS faction.

40 labour union chairmen and 23 socialist CS faction members were arrested. The governments action is surprising since it showed more of a tolerating attitude towards the labour union and the growing socialist movement over the last years. These new developments however show that the government is trying to put the worker movement back in its place. While cutting of these rampant branches of the movement with brute force it tries to eradicate its root at the same time. The law for unemployment benefits and raised premature pensions has been passed with an overwhelming majority.

Police Officers entering the congress building

It seems like the strategy of the government is working. It is highly favoured by most of the population according to recent polls, despite scandals like the termination of the Labour Union Congress.

HERRENBUCHT CONTINGENT LEFT FOR CACADIA

The small contingent of around 300 soldiers left to take part at this years Revolution Day Parade in Cascadia. Although there were problems with the uniforms the soldiers got ready to depart on time. All of them were picked by the Minister of War himself to assure they present our military tradition and drill well in Cascadia. We had a look at their drill training at the parade plaza in Wateringas. The soldiers perform the goosestep very accurately and impressing and the soldiers of the knight divisions that also take part at the parade handle their sword really well. We are confident they will contribute to a nice Revolution Day.

[Comrade Kermit]

BÜRGERSENAT DISSOLVED AND WELFARE LAW ENACTED BY DECREE

After additional 80 PMs of the socialist faction in the Bürgersenat were arrested due to their involvement in the illegal labour union congress, Philipp V decided that it was no longer quorate. Elections are to be held in two weeks. Karl Wagner leader of the Socialist Faction criticised the Duke's move and said that it was highly undemocratic in combination with the numerous arrests that ocurred over the last days. He also questioned the Duke's neutrality.
Shortly after the Bürgersenat was dissolved, Philipp V announced the very anticipated welfare and pension reform, which then came to effect by ducal decree. The decret will raise unemployments benefits from 20% to 50% of the last monthly earning. This amount of money will however never fall below 600 BMK. Pension fees have been raised by 12% and shorted pensions can be received after 40 years of contribution now. A very generous law change. The Duke and the Council of Ministers use a bold strategy of enacting socialist policies while also bashing the actual socialists. The assumption is evident that he is trying to destroy anti national socialism that has spread over Herrenbucht in the last years.
However the socialists announced strikes and street fights already. It seems like these are now a legitimate part of election campaigns. Together with a wave of fresh socialist candidates supported by the labour unions, the worker movement hopes to withstand the Duke's and COM's attacks, who already announced striking hard against any violent protester. These elections look like they are going to be the bloodiest of all of Herrenbuchts history.

WATERINGAS DEAL IS WORKING

According to the new statistics of the Ducal Office of Immigration, the numbers of illegal aliens entering Herrenbucht has gone down by 74%, which means that Al Thalra  actually fullfills the conditions of the Wateringas Deal. The COM is happy to see this as it was a very important condition for many citizens of Herrenbucht.
Herrenbucht is also fullfilling its own part of the deal. First architects have entered Al Thalra to plan the construction of the international highway connecting Herrenbucht to Al Thalra. This is the first step into the big construction plan that is supposed to industrialize Al Thalra. Together with Jelbic architects and building enterprises Herrenbucht will expand the F3, the biggest highway in the east Herrenbuchtian provinces with the small system of Jelbic streets that will be rebuild as a completely asphalted highway, leading to the rich mountains of Awé Estifíestinyr

[Comrade Kermit]

ELECTION NEWS

Escalations in Neuhafen

New strikes were announced by labour unions of almost every industrial sector. The police registered 140 cases of violence against their officers and 1600 cases of vandalism in the last 2 days. Neuhafen is the city that is hit most by the strikes and socialist riots. While the city itself is secured there are still excesses in the suburbs of Neuhafen-Ausbau and Laichack. The number of arrests is rising each hour by dozens.

Officer Helmut Helle expects riots to start in Wateringas soon. Labour unions seated in Wateringas already announced strikes and with the peaceful strikes always come extremists that abuse the situation. At least we are supposed to think that, however the police department assumes that labour unions are actively promoting these crimes as they seem to be too organized to be spontaneously. The labor unions reject any assumption to be collaborating with the extremists and say that these are organized outside their unions. We were reassured that the Duke will not be in danger if riots start.

POLLS

Duxisten 50 seats; Konservative 82 seats; Nationalliberale 26; Republikaner 44 seats; Sozialisten 93 seats
According to polls this is what it would look like if elections were held this sunday.
 However bear in mind that faction affiliations may differ after real elections.
 This map just portrays  the faction the PMs are expected to join. It shows that there is immense support for anti monarchist forces in Herrenbucht
and how deep the trenches in this country have become. These elections will continue to be exciting

[Comrade Kermit]

SOCIALIST CHAOS IS SPREADING

The elections have really stirred up the reds in Herrenbucht. This week records have been broken in politically motivated cases of violence against the police and vandalism. Now even socialists start to criticize these crimes. Karl Maurer former leader of the Socialist faction commented

These days we have crimes commited by people in the name of socialism,
 that are aimed against capitalism and its representants, but the line has been crossed, destroying and looting small shops, burning down cars of normal workers risking whole blocks catching fire, threatening the lifes of innocent people. This is not a strike against capitalism, but a strike against humanity. These individuals are nothing but criminals.

A new target that is favorized by extremists are churches, especially catholic ones. The police had to secure the whole cathedral district of Wateringas after an anonymous call. A person had threatened the police and said that he would burn down the cathedral. This call was received while a mess was held in the building, which had to be evacuated and searched for explosives. The police assumes that this remarkable hatred against christianity i caused by the statements of the pope. It is a common theory among some branches Herrenbuchtian socialists that catholics are trying to infiltrate Herrenbucht, and with the pope's statement they were even more infuriated and ready to attack catholics.

Duke Philipp V gave a statement concerning the violent excesses against catholics

Relations between Ducal protestants and catholics have been tense for decades, but we haven't had these organized crimes against catholics for over a hundred years.  I think that in these times we christians have to stick together, no matter the confession, and I defend the statements of the pope. These extremists have no faith, no god, they know no love. The only thing they can feel is blind hatred. We've let slide political extremism for to long and now we end off with this abomination. Individuals who respect no authority, neither god nor the state. There can be no compromise with them, we can only fight them.

Helmut Gruber, former senator of the socialist faction reacted to the Duke's statement

While I agree that this kind of extremism has to be fought, the tone of Duke Philipp V is outrageous. He can't differentiate between extremists and peaceful politically motivated protest, the will to change something. Pope Peter II picked a really bad time for his socialist bashing. A reckless behaviour if you ask me. And now Philipp V abuses this situation to spread his anti socialist views among the people and agitate for his agenda, shich isn't his job as a Duke. He is a splitter

The pope has not yet reacted to any of the reproaches or the fact that his sheep are threatened.

[Comrade Kermit]

SOCIALIST MENACE RESTRAINED FOR NOW

With the help of nationalist paramilitary organisation that organzied themselves over the last few days, the police was able to gain full control over the metropolitan area of Wateringas. For some the paramilitaries are heroes that protect the citizens, for others it is a scandal that the police relies on these forces. Socialist politicians already announced that they would initiate legislative processes to prohibit these organisations as soon as the Bürgersenat has been elected. Even conservatives criticize that paramilitaries would send wrong signals to the population and that they are a symbol of martial law. Duke Philipp stated that he admires the achievments of these paramilitaries and praises their effort for the state's security, but he also said that they cannot be a long term solution and that Herrenbucht should rather rely on police forces in the future.

Although these brave men have my respect for aiding the police, the risk is to high that these organisations gain too much independence and abuse their military force to press a political agenda rather than using it for sustaining law and order. In the future we shouldn't be dependent from these kinds of organisations, but we should use the common tools of the executive force. The success of the paramilitaries shows us that mistakes have been made and that we need to increase the manpower of our police and have a better police presence

Some now criticize that there were enough police officers, but that they were simply not mobilized. They assume that Duke Philipp provoked the socialist riots to justify a bigger budget for both police and military. This suspicion is backed by anonymous sources in the police which state that they were actively held back by the government when they tried to travel to Wateringas to help the stationed police forces.
CENSORED BY THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL SECURITY

[Comrade Kermit]

ELECTIONS COMPLETED

The last constituencies have submitted their results and we know the new composition of the Bürgersenat. The big winners are the Socialists and the Republicans. Especially the republicans made great gains over the last days, since they criticized the much feared paramilitaries the loudest and the most and criticized the use of military force in the interior as well. The socialists lost some mandates compared to the polls, but are still biggest faction in the Bürgersenat. This means that there is now a socialist-republican majority. Duke Philipp V did not comment the result yet. Many demand that he forms a new Council of Minister which seems legitimate considering the current government, consisting mostly of nobles lost its de facto majority. It would be the first time since decades that socialists are part of the government. The result is also remarkable in a different perspective, while not all socialists oppose monarchy as a whole almost every one of them opposes Philipp V.

Many wonder how the socialists were able to mobilizie so many voters although there was so much socialist terror. Some experts say that this terror even helped the socialists to win the election as it was seen as a necessary act of self defence against the government by many.
While Philipp did not comment the elections he reacted really quickly otherwise. More troops were moved to the capital to replace the paramilitaries which were dissolved overnight with the help of a quickly drafted decree. According to the Council of Ministers this was done to prevent further escalation. The action is criticized bceause of the fact that many of the ex paramilitaries were now offered to join the army instead. It seems like the government just feared to lose control over the development.

The first new session will be in a few days. Just read the HRH to stay tuned about further developments


Duxists: 50 seats; Konservative 82 seats; Nationalliberale 20 seats; Republikaner 53 seats; Socialists 90 seats

[Comrade Kermit]

A POLITICAL LEAFLET OF AN UNDEGROUND ORGANISATION: THE LEAFLET WAS DISTRIBUTED EVEN INTERNATIONALLY

Through an anonymous informant our newspaper learned of a horrible incident in one of the evacuated reservates. He told us of a horrible massacre that was provoked by the police and commited by the military. Our informant who claims to be part of the police himself, tells us of at least a hundred victims.

The horror went even further when he explained us that he has qualified suspicion that the massacre was planned. He reported that there were not enough vehicles for the villagers in the first place and that the logic and brutal consequence was the death of many people.

He also sent us photographs of corpses. While we do not want to share the material for obvious reasons we can ensure you that our experts have proof that these photographs are real.

With this article we want to inform all Herrenbuchtians of the atrocities commited by our own government, and we want to inform the world and hope to receive help in our mission. This case needs investigation and the evacuation has to be halted immediately as long as we cannot be sure that such atrocities will not be repeated

We demand immediate resistance from all citizens of Herrenbucht. These crimes reflect on all of us.

[Comrade Kermit]

LEGISLATIVE STALL

With the Duke not willing to give government offices to socialists and the Nationallliberale faction being to progressive to cooperate with the right parties, the old government will probably not be able to pass any laws. The only alternative left for a government that can be democratically legitimized would be if the conservative factions make big concessions or if the left factions can force the Duke to create a left mid government by having a convincing majority in the Bürgersenat. Such a government would have dramatic consequences for Herrenbucht, as it has been a long time since there was a progressive government in charge

Reservate Integration Program going well

The government stated that its urbanization program in the reservates is working excellently and that the inhabitants in the reservates were reall cooperative. He promised great progresses in the coming months. Although some sources report violent resettlements and genocidal tendencies in the acting police forces and military units, Ruprecht von Texburg explained that these rumors have nothing to do with the truth and are just propaganda of the opposition.

[Comrade Kermit]

TRADE UNIONS START GENERAL STRIKES

All major trade unions announced strikes of a before unknown scale in all of Herrenbucht. Almost no company in Herrenbucht is able to work properly. Even more shocking are the demands of the strikers. Unlike normally they are highly political. Among others they are the abolishment of the party ban, universal healthcare, abolishment of noble privileges, dissolution and re-election of the Bürgersenat and appointment of a socialist-republican government in case of voting records similiar to the last ones.

This is no longer agitation for workers rights this is an obscene attempt to extort the Duke and his government, who seem to be overwhelmed and stunned by the bold move of the unions. They have not answered any of the demands of the strikers yet. Instead the army was sent to prevent riots and to protect the strikers from nationalist militias who announced that they would travel to the coast to restore order to the coast if the government fails to do so. Duke Philipp announced, that his authority will not be undermined by either of the two sides. Until now most protests remained peaceful, but especially the behavior of the nationalist militias, who want to play war in the streets, ecalates the conflict in a dangerous way. Most labour unions pledged that they will not apply violence to push their demands.
Several politicians in Laxan declared their solidarity for the strikers and stated that Herrenbucht needs reforms that can never be achieved as long as the nobility still holds any power in Herrenbucht. When asked if this would imply removing the monarchy we received no answer.

[Comrade Kermit]

STRIKERS HAVE ACCESS TO FOREIGN FUNDS

Most of us could not explain how the trade unions plan to be able to sustian general strikes for weeks or even months. According to leaked information the unions received extremely high sums from foreign bank accounts in Kaitaine. Some expect their government behind this. Duke Philipp condemned this behaviour and said that they should not interfere in Herrenbuchtian politics.

Several nationalist militiamen who tried to enter Wateringas were stopped by the police to protect the strikers. Because of the high risk of riots the government also plans to evacuate the government district for the time being, however Herrenbuchtian authorities of course stated this does not mean giving up the capital. These measures are only applied to protect the Ducal family and the Council of Ministers. They deem this necessary because there have been really violent escalations in the suburbs of Wateringas. The police suspects radical communists behind this. Many cars have been burnt down and houses in Jerlfeld were damaged. The unions condemnded these incidents.



protests in Jerlfeld

According to the press office of the Defence Ministry the high command has already offered its help many times, but Duke Philipp wants to leave the problem to the police. He thinks military presence would only lead to further escalation of the conflict. A crackdown on the protestors is unthinkable.