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On Saturday, tens of thousands returned to pass through Berlin and, largely peacefully, called for an end to the Crown’s measures. However, at night the situation worsened. A report by Jan-Henrik Wiebe
“Putin, Putin, Putin,” chanted the crowd outside the Russian embassy in Unter den Linden in Berlin. Even in Russia there is rarely so much love for the autocrat in public. “Freedom instead of arbitrariness” is written on a sign held by a woman. Some fans of the Russian president carry the flag of the German Reich, others that of the United States or Russia and call for a peace treaty that supposedly does not exist.
Many of them are so-called Reich citizens, right-wing extremists and do not recognize the Federal Republic. He is demanding freedom from anti-crown measures and at the same time he wants Putin. A paradox that one finds in many places on this day.
Strong contrast to the aggressive “citizens of the Reich”
A group of hippies also want to sprinkle a lot of love on the street, at the intersection with Friedrichstrasse. With flowers in their hair, drums, guitar and flute, they play quietly. The contrast with the more aggressive right-wing “Reichsbürgern” could not be more stark.
Hippies could also be seen at the protest in Berlin, a stark contrast to the aggressive “citizens of the Reich.” (Source: Christoph Soeder / dpa)
A large proportion of the people who have come to Berlin from all corners of Germany come from the spectrum of the middle class and are afraid of what is happening, which is clear in conversations with them. They do not understand the measures against the corona pandemic, no one wears mouth and nose protection apart from the police and representatives of the press. This is also evident in local public transport on this day in Berlin.
The mask annoys more than neo-Nazis
Many people ignore the regulations, despite the possible fines. It is still claimed that the coronavirus is no worse than the flu. The piece of cloth that they have in front of their mouth and nose in the supermarket or on the train annoys many more than the neo-Nazis who mixed with their demonstration.
In addition to the identity movement observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, members of comrades from all over Germany have traveled. There are also representatives of the AfD on site. AfD Berlin posted a video of the rally on Twitter and called it a folk festival.
3000 police officers are very few
Around 3,000 police officers are on duty to enforce the authorities’ requirements, but it is clear from the outset that there are too few officers on duty to enforce any action. This becomes clear when the police want to clear a sit-in on Friedrichstrasse at noon after the demonstration broke up. The agents symbolically take a dozen protesters from the street and then leave.
The police cannot even adequately secure the Bundestag. Protesters with flags of the German Reich, a hallmark of the far right, break through police chains, push the bars aside and storm the portal. Only with a large amount of pepper spray can emergency services drive away the aggressive crowd and control the situation. Police later said that no one entered the building, but rocks and bottles were thrown at the officers. So far nothing is known about the injured.
“I had Corona and I’m worried about you”
Videos on the Internet show that only a few policemen defended the house of our democracy from the attack of the undemocrats.
Hours before, the situation was completely different: Karoline Preisler wears a mask and a sign on Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate and wants to speak to the protesters. “I had Corona and I’m worried about you,” says her poster. She is the bravest illuminator on this day.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the lawyer and politician from the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania FDP was in hospital in an isolation room for several days and had a rather serious illness. Men and women pass with flags of the German Empire. A man on the correct spectrum has sexually abused her, Preisler tells t-online.de.
Corona survivors seek conversation
“Most people don’t see Corona as the problem, but as fear,” says the Corona survivor. He’s had a lot of good conversations already, which, according to Preisler, have given some thoughtful people. However, he could not convince anyone that people’s opinions were too strong for that. She says many have never had contact with people who have contracted the virus. In conversations with people, she warns about farmer pickers who represent right-wing ideas and are not interested in the Corona issue.
In many places between Friedrichstrasse and the Victory Column, loud techno music blasts through the speakers you have brought with you. People dance in the street, hold hands and embrace. It’s like a little Love Parade, in the middle of the pandemic, but in a completely parallel world. It is not the virus that is dangerous, but the fear of it, says a woman in an interview with t-online.de.
Corona brings wild mix on the street
She is afraid that people will feel lonely and therefore will get sick, she says. All anti-crown measures must be withdrawn, this is not just their demand, but the common denominator of concerned citizens, conspiracy theorists, right-wing extremists, hippies, Christians, esotericists, women in burqas, women with German flags with a sock Turkish moon and Q-anon. Conspirator’s shirt, Putin’s friends and men with Turkish flags. Without Corona, neither of them would have taken to the streets together.
It is a mixture of fear, selfish hedonism and political activism. The mob in front of the Reichstag proved that the announcement of a “storm in Berlin” was not a joke.
