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A man and a woman stand on the sidelines of the demonstration and argue heatedly, with a red and white ribbon between them. She says she only hears Drosten and Lauterbach in the media. Jörg Rupp, 54, objects. The Antifa logo is stamped on his mouth and nose guard, and his shirt reads: “Braun – Schweig!” It says: “Anyone who demonstrates with the Nazis is yourself.” A third man, blond braid, “side thinker” listens. Then he says, almost casually, that he is against violence. “But we cannot achieve anything without violence.”
Germany remains in a state of emergency. Intensive care units are filling up and the number of infections is stagnating at a high level. At the same time, the group of those who deny the danger of the coronavirus seems to be gradually radicalizing. 20,000 “side thinkers” demonstrated in Leipzig last Saturday, right-wing hooligans paving their way through the city center. How does the movement behave the following weekend?
After the national mobilization, the “lateral thinkers” have spread again. On Sunday they will demonstrate in Düsseldorf, this Saturday afternoon they will demonstrate in Frankfurt am Main, at the same time around 1000 people will gather in a particularly symbolic place: Karlsruhe.
Two weeks ago, the crown deniers demonstrated on Schlossplatz, just a few hundred meters from the Federal Constitutional Court. Because it is too narrow there, the public order office and the organizers this time agreed on the measurement site, a huge asphalt area outside the city center, where public parties usually take place.
Hardly anyone wears nose and mouth protection here, because the administrative court had struck down the mask requirement prior to the recent demonstration. Instead, participants must adhere to the rules of distance. Two acquaintances greet each other with a handshake and embrace. “Keep your distance!” Shouts a protester. She sits on one of the neon-colored dots that the organizers sprayed onto the asphalt.
Markus Haintz, a lawyer from Ulm, takes the stage. He talks about the civil disobedience he needs now, referring to Gandhi and Martin Luther King. In his opinion, rallies like this are not a permanent solution. “In a green field or in a big parking lot, people don’t care what we do.” Leipzig, on the other hand, was “a nice spontaneous legal demonstration.” “It was great how it was in Leipzig.” How he feels about the far-right protesters, he does not say.
A student compares herself to Anne Frank
A man announces peace, justice and human dignity in his safety vest. A woman spreads the newspaper “Resistencia Democrática” with an Anonymous mask on her neck and white angel wings on her back. Another walks the rows in a wide-mesh net mask and advertises a bus trip to Berlin on a cardboard sign, where “side thinkers” want to demonstrate next Wednesday.
On stage, Dr. Walter Weber of the “Doctors for the Enlightenment” of the threat of forced vaccination, imposed by the police. One conspiracy theorist speaks of “pedophiles in government” responsible for child abuse. A schoolgirl, about twelve years old, talks about her children’s birthday, which she had to celebrate in secret, and compares herself to Anne Frank, who was hiding in the secret annex of the Nazis.
Police are on the scene with more than 100 officers. After Leipzig, and after the last Karlsruhe demonstration was on the verge of dissolving due to numerous violations, the lineup more than doubled, says a spokesperson. Estimate the number of those who have gathered at the edge of the measurement site to counter the demonstration at 130 to 150. They try to drown the speeches of the “side thinkers” with sirens, a rap song by the Berlin band KAFVKA resounds through the Speakers: “Fick your arguments aren’t. Lies don’t turn into facts just because you write them down.”
Then an activist begins to address the Corona deniers: “We are here because they cannot distance themselves from the anti-Semites and the Nazis,” he says. Behind the barrier, a “side thinker” yells at him: “You tough Nazis!” He doesn’t want to answer SPIEGEL’s questions, “because it’s going to be twisted anyway,” he says. “That’s the last thing they stain you.”
“We used to be on the same page”
The anti-fascist Rupp has now found a new interlocutor: Christina, curly white hair, 72 years old, does not want to reveal her last name. The two know each other because they are both politically active. Christina takes the tape, picks it up a little and says, “We used to be on the same side.”
They haven’t been in half a year. Christina was also there last weekend in Leipzig. She doesn’t wear a mask. A “Grandmothers Against Right” button sticks to her purse. It is a recognized left, he says, it has been involved for many years, “always on the side of democracy and peace.”
Rupp is a member of the left, previously he was in the state executive of Los Verdes. He points to the protesters from the “Kandel Women’s Alliance” who are a few meters below the crown deniers. He says that it was thanks to those people that the “grandmothers against the right” were founded. “Did you tell them to get mad?” Christina says she can’t ban anyone from being here at the show. 95 percent of the people are here because they are critical of the government’s measures. “And you throw 95 percent away.”
They both seem resigned. Unfortunately, their conversation doesn’t go beyond this level, Christina complains. “Sorry,” says Rupp. And she says, “Yeah, me too.” Then he says goodbye. Now take a look to the right. “So I know what you’re talking about.”
