“Lateral thinkers” march through Charlottenburg despite the ban

Several hundred opponents of the corona policy are currently taking part in an unauthorized demonstration in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Police spokesman Thilo Cablitz spoke in the rbb of around 2,000 people who had gathered around Reichsstraße.

Some of the participants mobilize via megaphones, chant slogans such as “Peace, freedom, no dictatorship”, some have dressed up and drum on instruments they have brought with them. You move over Kantstrasse and Kaiserdamm in the direction of the Gedächtniskirche

The mood is described by observing reporters as sometimes aggressive. Again and again there are scuffles and arguments with the police.

The police tweeted, among other things, that emergency services had been harassed and attacked by a group of people in Länderallee. “They tried to break the police chain and pull colleagues out. Irritants, baton and physical violence are used,” said the police.

According to the police, more than 1,000 people gathered around the Olympic Square on Sunday morning. Sometimes people tried to break through barriers. “Here physical violence had to be used in individual cases,” said a police spokeswoman on Sunday afternoon. The police said they were sent off because people wanted to demonstrate on foot. However, a car is a prerequisite for participation, and the Corona hygiene rules also apply in the vehicles.

Nevertheless, several hundred people moved on Theodor-Heuss-Platz towards the city center.

The first arrests have already taken place. According to police spokesman Cablitz, it is now a matter of “ensuring technology” and “filtering out ringleaders” in order to then break up the demonstrations. There is a risk of fines of up to 1,000 euros for participating in a prohibited demonstration.

The demonstrations lead to numerous traffic obstructions in the city center, including the Altonaer Strasse in the direction of the Großer Stern, which is closed to cars.

Up to 2,250 police forces are on duty in Berlin on Sunday to enforce bans on demonstrations, the authority announced on Twitter. The officials also point out in the message that “seven of the meetings indicated for today and ten as substitute registrations” are forbidden.

“We have the whole city in view over the area around June 17, because we know that there will be decentralized actions,” police spokesman Thilo Cablitz told the rbb on Sunday morning.

The Berlin police had banned several demonstrations for this weekend because they feared violations of the hygiene requirements. Among them is a rally by the initiative “lateral thinking 711” from Stuttgart, which originally had 22,500 participants registered for the afternoon. The Higher Administrative Court Berlin-Brandenburg (OVG) confirmed the on Saturday evening previous decisions of the Berlin Administrative Court and the police.

From 11 a.m., an approved motorcade should travel from the Olympic Square via Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf to Tempelhof-Schöneberg and then back again. The event under the motto: “We demand the unrestricted restoration of the right to demonstrate” was registered until 2 pm.

The convoy can also cause traffic disruptions on Sunday. According to the traffic information center, the convoy will drive along Masurenallee towards the city center after its start at the Olympic Square. The route leads along Berliner Straße and Potsdamer Straße and then leads back to the Olympic Square in front of the stadium via Kurfürstendamm and Otto-Suhr-Allee, as the traffic information center announced on Twitter.

On Sunday morning, according to observations by an rbb reporter, it remained quiet around the Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden and on Straße des 17. Juni. There were also no incidents on Sunday night, said a spokesman for the situation center on Sunday morning.

It had previously been expected that, despite the prohibition of the demonstrations, supporters of the initiative “lateral thinking 711” from Stuttgart could gather at the planned rally site around the Brandenburg Gate.

Broadcast: Inforadio, August 1st, 10 a.m.