After several “lateral thinkers” demonstrations were banned, thousands of people are marching through Berlin. The police are now threatening with water cannons – and the protesters are always looking for new ways.
Berlin – Despite the ban on several demonstrations, including those from the “lateral thinker” scene, thousands of people took to the streets in Berlin. There were several clashes between protesters and the police on Sunday.
In the meantime, water cannons went up at the Victory Column. As police spokesman Thilo Cablitz of the rbb “Abendschau” said, there were almost 600 arrests. There were around 5000 participants. They would have tried again and again across town to find each other.
Police: “In individual cases physical violence”
Helicopters circled over various parts of the city. “Unconventional thinkers” groups were out and about in Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, Mitte and Kreuzberg during the day.
According to the police, there have been repeated attempts to break through barriers. “Here, physical violence had to be used in individual cases,” said a police spokeswoman. In the morning several hundred people had gathered near the Olympic Square in the west of the capital. More than 2,200 police officers were on duty.
There were also major protests at the Victory Column. A rally of the initiative “lateral thinking 711” was originally planned on Straße des 17. Juni, for which around 22,500 participants were registered. The Berlin police had banned the rally and a number of other protests because they feared violations of the Corona hygiene requirements.
Varying “aggression potential”
The police issued refusals. According to a spokesman, she stopped a coach in Westend and ensured technology. The groups had come together again and again across the city – the “aggression potential” had varied, said the police spokesman for the dpa. Police officers were also injured – but he did not give an exact number or other details. According to information on Twitter, the police also used irritants and batons.
People protested in various groups and demanded, for example, “an end to the corona dictatorship”, held banners such as “no test: no pandemic” or spoke out against the denial of the corona virus. Others used whistles, flags, drums or chants such as “Peace, Freedom, Democracy” and “We are the people”. Some were out with heart-shaped balloons. Sometimes protesters ran through the traffic, sometimes they were walking on footpaths.
“We have prepared for a very exhausting mission this entire weekend,” said the police spokesman. When asked about the tactics of the police and why people had managed to assemble, he said: The police are required to act with a sense of proportion. “We cannot now arbitrarily control every person, for example on Pariser Platz.”
References pronounced
For example, people had moved out of tourist hotspots and hundreds of them came together, the spokesman said. The police dispersed them again. A number of actions, some of which, according to their title, were also directed against politics in the corona pandemic, had not been banned, such as car parades. There, too, according to the police, some people joined on foot.
In the evening, numerous people gathered on Alexanderplatz and were asked by the police to leave the square. It was observed that the police arrested individuals and led them away.
The spokesman for the initiative “lateral thinking 711”, Michael Ballweg, said on Sunday that his initiative accepted the ban on the demonstration. But freedom cannot be forbidden. “People are now independently standing up for their basic rights. And the meetings take place anyway. ”At the same time, Ballweg criticized the ban and said that a coordinated meeting with conditions, files and de-escalation teams would have been safer.
Schäuble attacks the “lateral thinker” scene sharply
In an internal “emergency plan”, the initiative called for people to come to Berlin even in the event of a ban. Exactly a year ago there was a major demonstration against the Corona measures in Berlin on August 1st.
Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) had previously sharply attacked the “lateral thinker” scene. “If practically all experts worldwide say that Corona is dangerous and vaccination helps, then who actually has the right to say: But I am smarter? For me that is an almost unbearable amount of arrogance, ”said Schäuble of the“ Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung ”. “Please take a look at the scientific findings, don’t let cheap slogans fool you!” He appealed. dpa
