B.Up to 12,000 people went through Nuremberg on Sunday to demonstrate against the corona measures taken by the federal and state governments. Among other things, the “Students stand up” alliance called for a demonstration at the Nuremberg fairgrounds.
The police assign the alliance to the “lateral thinkers” scene. This is very heterogeneous and includes all political currents, said Konrad. These included people of all ages, including families with children. But there were certainly also people from the right-wing extremist spectrum.
Slogans such as “Duty to think instead of mandatory vaccination”, “No to mandatory vaccination” or “We stand up” could be read on the posters. However, some participants also wore banners with “Vaccination Makes You Free” based on the lettering on the entrance gate of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
In In August, a man in Freiburg was convicted of seditionafter carrying a sign with the same sentence on it. Stickers reminiscent of a Jewish star could also be seen.
So far there have been no major incidents, said police spokesman Michael Konrad in the late afternoon. The police were busy in the city.
2900 people demonstrate in Thuringia
All over Thuringia, around 2900 people demonstrated against Corona measures on Sunday. Of the total of 17 demonstrations, only three were registered, as a police spokesman said on Monday night. Most of the people gathered in Eisenach (900) and Gotha (800). Five police officers were slightly injured while working in Gotha.
Nationwide, the police issued 11 criminal charges and 179 administrative offense reports. In addition, 239 dismissals were issued. There were further demonstrations in Erfurt, Friedrichroda, Jena, Bad Langensalza, Mühlhausen, Greußen, Schleusingen, Bad Liebenstein and Wandersleben.
Weidel accused the federal government
At a parallel rally of the Bavarian AfD in the city center, to which the parliamentary group leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, also appeared, the police counted around 2,000 people.
Weidel accused the federal government of not wanting to admit its “mistakes and misconduct”. “The unvaccinated are the new scapegoats for policy failures,” she said. And further: “Nobody may be forced to a medical treatment against his will,” said Weidel and emphasized: The protest movement comes from the middle of society. “I don’t see any extremists here today.”
Chrupalla compared the situation with the time before German unification. “It’s worse today than it was in 1989,” he said.
A similar number of counter-demonstrators protested in the area; Left groups also marched through the city amid loud shouts. In addition, according to the police, around 100 citizens formed a “human chain for human rights” in the city center. With candles they wanted to remember the corona dead and set a sign for solidarity and against the enemies of democracy.
“We stand up together against agitation, disinformation and conspiracy theories,” wrote Mayor Marcus König (CSU) on Twitter.
Bouffier fears radicalization
Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) fears further radicalization by opponents of the Corona measures. “Yes, I have the concern,” he said in an interview with the German Press Agency in Wiesbaden. He received a lot of mail from people who insulted him for his corona policy. “I was Minister of the Interior for a long time and I am very familiar with threats,” said the Prime Minister. He has lived with personal protection for 23 years.
Of course, the threats “didn’t make him happy,” but they didn’t change his convictions, Bouffier emphasized. “Those who don’t get vaccinated are not our enemies – the enemy is the virus,” he said. But it also applies: “If you don’t get vaccinated, you not only make a private decision, but this decision also affects many other people.”
Bouffier explained: “I cannot continuously restrict millions of people with all sorts of regulations because others did not want to be vaccinated.” If the vaccination level does not increase overall, then the fight against the pandemic could not be successful.
Thousands of people across Germany demonstrated against Corona measures and vaccinations over the weekend, including in Frankfurt am Main, Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf. The protests were largely peaceful, but in some places there were attacks on officials, the press and demonstrators. In Berlin, an unauthorized gathering of several hundred people at the Brandenburg Gate was broken up by the police.