Minister in German state of Saxony sacked after police scandals

The leader of the German state of Saxony sacked its interior minister on Friday after a series of scandals involving the regional police force, reported dpa.

Although some things in the Interior Ministry had gone well under the leadership of Roland Wöller, said state Premier Michael Kretschmer, recently "we only seem to be talking about alleged or actual scandals."

The pressure on Wöller increased considerably in the past few days, but he had shown no signs of wanting to step down, and eventually Kretschmer took the decision for him.

Police unions had renewed their demands for his resignation in the past week, even after holding a crisis meeting to resolve the issue.

The new interior minister will be another conservative, Armin Schuster from the Christian Democrats (CDU). He would bring "new ideas," Kretschmer said, and would officially start in the post on Monday.

The regional government comprises three parties: the CDU, the Social Democrats, and the Greens.

Among other things, Wöller was accused of nepotism after appointing an acquaintance of his wife as the new chancellor of the Saxon police academy in Rothenburg. He rejected the accusations.

This week, a new police scandal came to light, when a Dresden special police unit declared a skiing holiday in a four-star hotel in the Alps as a "training trip."

A previous scandal involved police allegedly trading in stolen bicycles in the city of Leipzig.