Status: 10/11/2022 5:48 am
In several cities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, demonstrations against the current energy policy took place again on Monday. Around 7,000 people took to the streets nationwide. There were protests in Schwerin, Rostock and Wismar, among others.
According to the police, almost 2,400 people gathered in the city center in Schwerin on Monday evening to parade through the streets like in the past few weeks – a little less than a week earlier. Just over 400 people gathered in Waren an der Müritz, and in Wismar the police spoke to around 1,000 participants afterwards.
There were other protests in Rostock, Neubrandenburg and Parchim, among others. There were campaigns in more than 15 cities across the country. According to the police, it remained peaceful everywhere. In Schwerin, the officials checked a 40-year-old who had previously repeatedly violated the meeting requirements.
Criticism of increased electricity and gas prices
The protests were primarily directed against the sharp rise in electricity and gas prices and their consequences for companies and consumers. In Schwerin and Neubrandenburg, speakers called for, among other things, an energy policy that people could afford and also affordable living costs. Several demonstrations also called for peace negotiations in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, a halt to arms deliveries and the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
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Demand for affordable energy prices
In Neubrandenburg speakers also criticized the proposals for a gas price brake presented on Monday. If the price cap does not take effect until March 2023, that would only be at the end of the heating period and much too late, they said. Motorists and cyclists had to accept disabilities in many places, and there were closures in a number of inner cities. The organizer of the Monday protests was again the “Unternehmeraufstand-MV” initiative, which called for eight motorcades on Thursday.
Almost 10,000 participants in protests in the previous week
Most recently, on October 3, the police counted almost 10,000 participants in such protests in MV, with most people demonstrating in Schwerin. Representatives of the left had subsequently demanded that individual organizers distance themselves more clearly from nationalist and right-wing extremist positions from participants during the demonstrations.
The influence of extremists on the protests is also observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. You will find yourself among the participants, speakers, but also applicants, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The attempt to exert influence is noticeable in many places in the country.
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