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“Now it seems like there is a relaxed night first,” a spokeswoman said Saturday an hour before midnight. The final rally ended without incident and calm had also returned to the Russian embassy. The same applies to the Reichstag in Berlin. Many protesters ran up the stairs at night. From her point of view, one cannot speak of an attempt to broadcast the Reichstag, the spokeswoman said. It is not clear what the motivation and goal of the people was.
A balance for the day cannot yet be established, the spokeswoman also said. There were certainly hundreds of arrests and several police officers injured. Berlin Interior Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD) had spoken of some 300 arrests overnight, 200 of them near the Russian embassy, where “Reich citizens and extremists” demonstrated. There were also seven wounded policemen there. Police tweeted that prisoners had also been released at the scene.
According to Geisel, up to 38,000 people demonstrated in Berlin. The police had broken up the large-scale demonstration. According to the authorities, the reason for this was “in particular non-compliance with the distance regulations”. During the protests in Unter den Linden and in front of the Reichstag building, there were violent clashes between protesters and police.
“They are not respecting the minimum distances in all areas despite repeated requests,” a police announcement told protesters in the early afternoon. “That’s why there is no other option but to dissolve the congregation.” According to the police, around 18,000 people had already gathered there for lunch.
They chanted slogans such as “We are here, we speak out because they steal our freedom” or “We are the people.” First, the organizers called on the people to oppose the dissolution. A few hours later, however, according to Geisel, all the participants had left the streets.
In the afternoon, tens of thousands of protesters gathered at the Berlin Victory School. In contrast to the disbanded demonstration, according to Geisel, there was “apparently an effort to maintain remote regulation” at Victory School. Many participants left the rally in the early afternoon. According to a police spokeswoman, a few hundred participants remained together during the dismantling work late at night.
The general meeting was registered by the lateral thought initiative 711 under the title “Festival for Peace and Freedom.” The Stuttgart initiative had also organized the August 1 meeting, in which more than 20,000 people demonstrated in Berlin against measures to contain the corona pandemic – without masks and minimum distance.
Geisel regretted on Saturday that again “as expected” the minimum distance was not maintained. The demonstrations had already sparked discussions at the national level days earlier: on Wednesday, assembly authorities banned the rally and mass rally for protection against infections, but the courts overturned the controversial bans.
Geisel defended the action Saturday night at the ARD “Tagesthemen.” Since “radicalized” people get together, he does not believe “that it will serve democracy if we crouch down and show no attitude.”
Many participants clearly positioned themselves as opponents of vaccination and supporters of conspiracy theories. In addition to the German flags, many imperial flags, but also countless flags, were waved in the colors of the rainbow.
According to Geisel, a total of some 300 people were detained over the course of the day into the afternoon, 200 of them in violent clashes at the Russian embassy in Unter den Linden, with right-wing extremists throwing stones and bottles at police officers. Cook Hildmann, known for his conspiracy theories, was also arrested there.
Steinmeier condemns “attack on the heart of democracy”
At night, several hundred protesters flocked to the steps of the Reichstag building, as a police spokeswoman said. Local officials drove the protesters away and also used pepper spray. There were several arrests, the exact number initially unclear. At around 10:30 p.m., the Berlin police announced on the Twitter online service that their mission was coming to an end.
German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier harshly condemned the assault by protesters at the Reichstag building on Saturday night. “The Reich flags and the attacks by right-wing extremists in front of the German Bundestag are an unbearable attack on the heart of our democracy. We will never accept it,” Steinmeier said Sunday. “Our democracy lives,” Steinmeier emphasized. Anyone who is angry at the Crown’s measures or doubts its need can do so, also in public, even at demonstrations. “My understanding ends where the protesters get hooked on the cars of the enemies of democracy and political agitators.” Steinmeier thanked the police officers “who acted with extreme caution in a difficult situation.”
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) told “Bild am Sonntag” that “diversity of opinion” is a “trademark of a healthy society”. Freedom of assembly, however, “has its limits where state rules are violated with the feet.” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) wrote on the Twitter online service: “The Reich flags in front of the parliament are humiliating.” Everyone has the right to discuss how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and demonstrate their opinion. However, no one should “go after right-wing extremists, endanger police officers and expose many to the risk of infection,” the minister wrote.
