On Saturday morning, the Robert Koch Institute reported 23,399 new corona infections in Germany. And starting at 1 p.m., crown deniers, neo-Nazis, hooligans, and conspiracy theorists turn Leipzig into a madhouse.
The “Querdenker” demonstration in the city, approved by the Superior Administrative Court for 16,000 participants, with distance and mask.
The requirements, a joke. The police, completely overwhelmed.
Fight for flags: police officers try to snatch flags with forbidden motives from protestersPhoto: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
1.30pm on Augustusplatz at the famous Gewandhaus: satirist Uwe Steimle (57), photographed by the MDR, takes the stage disguised as GDR head of state Erich Honecker, and the crowd shouts Honecker’s famous slogan: “Always! forward, never backward! “
2 pm: The mood heats up. There is violence between critics of Corona and its opponents, between neo-Nazis and antifa activists. More than two dozen counter-demonstrations are registered. Stones and bottles are thrown at policemen (from nine federal states). There are first arrests.
Fire in the streets! Protesters have thrown incendiary devices. The cops walk away from the flamesPhoto: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
2.30 pm .: More and more people flock to Augustusplatz. The organizers temporarily interrupt the demonstration and ask the participants to make full use of the space and also of the side streets. There are clearly more than 20,000 people there.
3 pm .: Police repeatedly use loudspeakers to ask participants to meet the requirements of the crown: keep your distance, wear a mask. Unsuccessfully!
3.10 pm.: Thomas Berthold (55), 1990 world soccer champion, takes the stage with his wife. He lets himself be celebrated as a “defender of democracy” and criticizes the confinement: “We can’t take all this shit anymore!” The protesters shout “Peace, freedom, not dictatorship” and hold banners with Chancellor Merkel dressed in prison. see is.
3:35 pm.: The police interrupt the demonstration. Researchers from the “Counted” group even speak of 45,000 participants. Y: According to the police, 90 percent of them do not wear a mask. The police asked the protesters to leave the square. An organizer yells into the microphone: “The meeting has dissolved! Please behave in peace. “
4.30 pm .: There are still 10,000 protesters at Augustusplatz. Tens of thousands move through the city. Violence occurs especially in the main station. Police officers are shot with flares, journalists are attacked and threatened with death.
5.15pm.: Thousands of Corona critics shout: “Merkel has to go!” And “We are the people!” Many resist the police, throwing smoke bombs and fireworks at them. Officers defend themselves with pepper spray and also use a squad.
5.42 pm.: The left-wing alliance “Leipzig takes a seat” urgently advises the counter-protesters to withdraw from the city center: “We consider the situation too dangerous.”
After the end of the demonstration of the Stuttgart initiative “lateral thinking”, the police officers stand in front of the protesters at the main stationPhoto: dpa
6:03 pm.: The police surrender, drop off the protesters at the main station and walk through the downtown ring, although this was prohibited by a court and the demonstration has long been disbanded.
6.30 pm.: Thousands of crown deniers and right-wing radicals move unhindered, but accompanied by police, through the city, back to Augustusplatz.
Surrounded by police vehicles, the protesters stopped in front of Leipzig’s central station last night.Photo: dpa
6.42pm.: Police tweeted: “There were numerous attacks on emergency services at the barriers.”
7:08 pm .: According to the “Leipziger Volkszeitung”, the crown deniers yell: “Oh, how cute it is.”
Late at night there were no reliable figures for injuries and arrests.
A court did not allow the demonstration in the city center until Saturday morning
The day of the scandal in Leipzig was preceded by a legal tug of war over the location of the demonstration. A chronology:
► The “lateral thinkers” point to an ascent on the ring of the city center in Leipzig, based on the model of mass protest against the leadership of the GDR in autumn 1989.
However: The regulation of the Saxon Crown only allows “fixed” meetings. Consequence: The city administration orders the rally to take place on the grounds of the New Fair.
► Friday evening: the administrative court of Leipzig confirms this relocation.
► Saturday morning: The Higher Administrative Court of Saxony (OVG) in Bautzen annuls this decision (AZ: 6 B 368/20). Protesters can enter the city center.
► Condition: The OVG limits the number of participants to a maximum of 16,000 and indicates the obligation to comply with the “conditions related to the crown” (masks, distance).
Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Photo: dpa
Photo: dpa