Protest on Wednesday in front of the Reichstag building
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Police want to crack down on lateral thinkers demonstration
The Berlin police want to counter the demonstration planned for Wednesday by opponents of the Corona rules in front of the Reichstag building with “clear measures”. However, escalations such as those recently in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main should be avoided.
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The Berlin police want to enforce the hygiene regulations with all admissible means, especially during demonstrations by opponents of the Corona rules. The police chief Barbara Slowik announced on Monday with a view the planned demonstration on Wednesday in front of the Bundestag. Slowik spoke of “clear measures” without being more specific.
“We will do everything in our power not to allow any meetings without mouth and nose protection,” she said in the House of Representatives Interior Committee. Should it come to that, the police will dissolve it as soon as possible. You absolutely want to avoid pictures like a week ago in Leipzig or in August before the Reichstag. “We will and must think about other measures than usual.” The aim is to curb the spread of the virus.
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Geisel does not want to use water cannons
On Wednesday, the Bundestag and Bundesrat want to adopt changes to the Infection Protection Act. This involves distance requirements, contact restrictions, mask requirements, closings of shops and bans on events. At the same time, six demonstrations by opponents of the Corona restrictions such as lateral thinkers and counter-demonstrators are planned in front of the Reichstag and nearby, Slowik said. The police are preparing together with the federal police and the police of the Bundestag. 500 people are registered for the demonstration against the Corona bans and around 4,500 people for the counter-demonstrations.
Slowik pointed out the difficulties for the police. “Tens of thousands of people who refuse to leave, but continue to protest peacefully (…), we will not be able to separate them within a very short time and thus guarantee protection against viruses.” The action of the police could lead to “clear measures”. Interior Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD) rejected the use of water cannons because of the de-escalation requirement. Water cannons were last used last weekend at Corona demonstrations in Frankfurt am Main.
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Slowik is again calling for upper limits on demonstrations
According to Slowik, the composition of the demonstrations is a broad cross-section of the population: individual people, groups, families, but also Reich citizens, right-wing extremists and hooligans. What they have in common is non-compliance with the corona rules. It is not usual that thousands of people do not obey the rules during a demonstration. “That makes it especially difficult.”
Slowik again pleaded in the interior committee to limit the number of participants in demonstrations to 100 or 500 again during the corona pandemic. This makes it much easier for the police to support infection control and to resolve events quickly. The Left MP Niklas Schrader rejected this immediately.
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Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main as warning examples
In the past few weeks, demonstrations by opponents of the corona measures had escalated and turned into violence. A week ago, at least 20,000 demonstrators gathered in Leipzig. According to the police, 90 percent of the participants did not wear masks, although they are compulsory for demonstrations in Saxony. The rally was broken up, after which the demonstrators forced a walk across the Leipziger Ring. The police tried in vain to stop them. There were scuffles at police barriers, firecrackers flew. There were also groups of neo-Nazis among the demonstrators.
Last weekend there were protests against the current Corona measures in several German cities. In Frankfurt am Main, the police pushed the participants of a “lateral thinking” rally as well as counter-demonstrators back with water cannons and occasionally with batons. The gathering of around 600 “lateral thinkers” on Rathenauplatz was dissolved in the evening. The conditions imposed by the city, in particular the required minimum distance as well as the mask requirement, had not been met “despite repeated requests”. When the rally participants refused to leave the square, the police used water cannons.
Broadcast: evening show, November 16, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
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