In several municipalities in the district, opponents of the corona measures met on Monday evening for so-called walks. In Unterhaching alone, around 170 participants came together for the non-registered demonstration on Monday evening. In Ottobrunn the police counted about 130 participants, in Oberhaching 50, in Haar 30, in Neuried 20. In Neubiberg, according to the Ottobrunn police chief Armin Ganserer, there were only a few people who first got together here, then there and then broke up again when his strength emerged .
In Unterhaching, the Corona walkers met on the Rathausplatz, stood together in loose groups of three to five and initially eyed the police with skepticism, which, reinforced by Munich colleagues, had lined up on the north side of the Rathausplatz. “We are trying to impose conditions so that the participants can take their walk safely”, the local police chief Siegfried Graf had announced in advance. The right to demonstrate is a valuable asset that must be protected. But the meeting must be able to run safely, that is what the conditions are for. “One would like to prepare for such an action and cordon off the streets so that it can take place safely, but if it is not registered, we cannot implement it,” said Graf.
The police ask the walkers to adhere to the traffic and corona rules.
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
Another concern of Graf that evening was that the participants would probably not have complete vaccination protection, but would stand relatively close together for a long time without masks, which resulted in a high potential for infection. More and more citizens reported to the police, who were worried about these gatherings, which they had already observed in the past and which they sometimes perceived as threatening.
At 7:08 p.m. this time in Unterhaching, a group of around 20 people set off from the town hall in the direction of Rathausstraße, and a long train quickly formed which ran to Münchner Straße, under the S-Bahn and in a large arch the station – and along Schulstrasse, to be back at Rathausplatz after a good 30 minutes. A quick round of applause for themselves, a final chat and the participants went home.
While they had walked one behind the other in their small groups, they talked about electricity generation and everyday problems, for example. No slogans or banners indicated the purpose of the gathering. There was no curiosity in the houses they passed by. Only one woman glanced down from a balcony, hundreds of other windows remained closed. A couple who walked their dog shook their heads uncomprehendingly, a woman on the town hall square asked, confused, what was going on here. A companion and audibly convinced opponent of the Corona measures said at the end: “You meet interesting people here every week.”
Two students held up signs for compulsory vaccination
Two young men demonstrated resistance to this alleged walk. They stood on the edge of the route, wearing FFP2 masks, and held cardboard signs up to the demonstrators: “Vaccination makes sense! – Pro vaccination compulsory!” one sign read “PRO vaccination” on the other. They are students, 23 and 26 years old, and live in Unterhaching, they said, but wanted to remain anonymous. “We want to set an example, after all, the people here do not represent a majority,” they justified their spontaneous action and emphasized that one should not pay too much attention to them. When they were standing in front of a shop on Bahnhofstrasse a little later, they were evidently more irritating. Shout like “You divide society!” and “You were just carted here”, the two smiled away, not getting involved in discussions. Even the two policemen, who had taken up posts next to them as a precaution, were amazed at this.
A student holds a sign saying “PRO vaccination” towards the opponents of the corona measures in Unterhaching.
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
The police were unable to identify a meeting leader on Monday in Ottobrunn or Unterhaching, unlike in the previous weeks, when name determinations were made and warnings issued in Unterhaching. Only now and then did a participant seek a conversation with the officers accompanying them, even if only to find out how many people had come.
The evening passed calmly. At possible further meetings of this kind, the police chiefs Ganserer and Graf expressed their concern that this could also change. They expected attendees to respond to police instructions with laughter and ignorance. Graf was aware that some strollers can quickly become highly aggressive.