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Hundreds of people flock to the Brandenburg Gate before eight in the morning. Late in the morning, the march of “lateral thinking 711” begins in the direction of the Victory Column, where the final rally will take place around 3:30 pm. According to estimates by the police, there are 18,000 people at noon. The trend continues to increase. There are young and old who have set out, men and women. A young man pulls a handcart with a sign: “Hannover is waking up.” A woman waves a rainbow flag. “Vehicle of Peace” is written on a car that looks like a police car.
If it weren’t for the two older men with the imperial flag next to a pickup, it seemed more like preparation for an event than a demonstration. However, in the course of the demonstration, such flags were seen again and again.
In the middle of the night, at three in the afternoon, the Superior Administrative Court (OVG) gave the green light to the act. It was the end of a legal skirmish between the state of Berlin and the anti-crown protesters of “Quer Think 711”. After assembly authorities banned Wednesday’s protest march, organizers from Stuttgart, area code 0711, had submitted an urgent request to the administrative court, which had granted it on Friday afternoon. Against this, the Berlin police lodged a complaint, which the OVG judges have now rejected after an evening session.
Due to lack of space: the police make masks a requirement
The decision is a defeat for the state of Berlin, but especially for Interior Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD). He had vehemently defended the ban on the demonstration. But the judges literally dismantled the reasons for the ban: the court did not see an “immediate danger to public safety” from “Lateral Thinking 711” supporters. The use of masks, which they reject, is not mandatory, as long as safety distances are respected. In addition, the judges gave the organizers some safety instructions for the demonstration. Police have now announced that they will “evacuate quickly” if participants do not adhere to protection against infection.
In the morning, the Berlin police tightened their course: because the protesters apparently did not maintain safety distances, they made masks a requirement: “The participants in the demonstration, who want to walk from Unter d. Linden via Friedrichstrasse, Alex, Leipziger Pl. Up to the Brandenburg Gate, they were asked several times to no avail to keep their distance. So our COO now makes use of the MNS a requirement. ” officials wrote on Twitter.
The court gave the meeting participants “a second chance to show that they meet the conditions,” Geisel commented on the decision. He expects the people demonstrating in Berlin “to do everything possible to protect themselves against infection. And to do so peacefully.” He said that “the European mobilization among right-wing extremists” worries him greatly.
Because even more problematic for the security authorities than thousands of opponents of Corona who violate hygiene regulations are the groups that move as a result of “lateral thinking 711”. AfD officials have called for people to take to the streets in the capital over the weekend, along with the entire right-wing extremist scene: identity movement, NPD, Tercera Vía. According to the police, their supporters have also mobilized in Spain , France and Belgium.
The protests are very heterogeneous, but this is not the only participant in the demonstration with the Reich flag.
(Photo: dpa)
“Storming Berlin”, also with the use of weapons
Security authorities are particularly shocked by the reactions of right-wing extremists, crown deniers and conspiracy theorists to the provisional ban on meetings. The “Berlin storm” was called on social media, and in some cases the use of weapons was called for.
At the first meeting around the Brandenburg Gate on Friday night, they showed that right-wing extremists take their presence seriously. The leaders of the scene appeared alongside participants of peaceful scenes. Thus, Interior Senator Geisel and police had repeatedly warned protesters not to mess with right-wing extremists. Berlin Police Vice President Marco Langner warned of some considerably aggressive protesters: “This openly formulated willingness to use violence against the state represents a new dimension for us.” However, police with experience in demonstrations in Berlin are ready to provide security this weekend: 3,000 agents from other federal states and from the federal police are ready. In addition, heavy equipment such as water cannons and a total of nine kilometers of barriers.
