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Saturday, November 7, 2020
20,000 “lateral thinkers” demonstrate at noon in the city center of Leipzig. However, many protesters do not want to accept the resolution of the event due to violations of the requirements of the assembly, and they also attack the police officers. In the main station there are fights with counter-protesters.
Thousands of protesters in Leipzig opposed the resolution of a “lateral thinking” demonstration. They marched through the downtown ring at night. Some policemen accompanied the train. In the area of the main train station, a lock was opened, police said on Twitter. “The participants in the previous assembly are making an elevator classified as prohibited by the assembly authorities.”
There were “numerous attacks” against police officers at the barriers. Some of the protesters chanted “Peace, freedom, not dictatorship” and “Merkel must go.” There were several physical clashes, a police spokesman said.
In the afternoon, the participants set off firecrackers and rockets at the rally site on Augustusplatz. In the main train station there were small fights between the participants of the demonstration and the counter-protesters, with the intervention of the police. Police reported attacks on emergency services on Twitter. “Rescue workers in #Leipzig are repeatedly attacked. Refrain from lighting pyrotechnics and throwing objects at them!” One will act consistently against criminals.
Attacks on journalists
There were also reportedly attacks on journalists, as the union of the Union of German Journalists (DJU) announced at night. In an initial assessment, Jörg Reichel, state manager of DJU Berlin Brandenburg, spoke of at least 32 journalists who were “affected by physical attacks and disabilities,” as he wrote on Twitter. The attacks were primarily from participants in the “#Corona denier demonstration,” Reichel said.
“Our fears that the demonstrations could reignite hostility and threats of violence against journalists have come true,” said Tina Groll, president of the DJU at Verdi. At night, the police were initially unable to provide any information on whether there were attacks on journalists. However, it cannot be ruled out that there were also attacks on press representatives in the numerous attacks, a police spokesman said.
Previously, the city of Leipzig had broken up the rally with 20,000 participants, according to the police, as most of them had violated assembly requirements. Police spokesman Olaf Hoppe said 90 percent of the participants did not have mouth and nose protection. By morning, a court had limited the number of participants to 16,000. Observers surmised that a total of more than 20,000 participants counted by the police had arrived in Leipzig.
Saxon Interior Minister Roland Wöller criticized the decision of the Higher Administrative Court of Saxony to allow the demonstration to take place. “It is irresponsible to allow such a gathering with more than 16,000 people in times of the corona pandemic in the center of Leipzig,” Wöller said. Meeting the infection protection requirements was impossible from the start. Therefore, the city’s decision to break up the meeting after a good two and a half hours was correct. “The corona pandemic cannot be fought with the police or with police measures, but only with everyone’s common sense,” Wöller said.
