After the protests from the milieu of lateral thinkers and corona skeptics at the weekend, there was another demonstration in Berlin on Monday. Officially, this ran under the motto “Dare more democracy”, 500 participants were registered.
The police counted 4800 participants in the late afternoon. The scene itself dubbed its procession the “media march”; it passed several media companies, including ARD, ZDF, Springer, “taz” and the Tagesspiegel. The media are said to have been brought into line for the scene. Demonstrators chanted again and again in chorus: “Lügenpresse” and “Lückenpresse”.
The demonstration was peaceful until early evening. One person has been temporarily arrested for insulting the deceased. The police were on duty with 300 officers.
The reason for the demonstration is the second anniversary of the first nationwide lateral thinking demonstration in Berlin. Back then, on August 1, 2020, around 20,000 people protested against the state corona measures.
The scene has now announced a whole week of protests, which should last until Saturday. The conspiracy ideological references are particularly striking. With the protest against the Corona measures, not nearly as many people can be mobilized. Furthermore, there are demonstrations against an alleged compulsory vaccination.
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Several participants in the demonstration called for the release of Michael Ballweg, the founder of the “lateral thinking” movement, from custody. The Stuttgart public prosecutor is investigating the 47-year-old for fraud and money laundering.
In speeches, Ballweg was equated with victims of the Nazi dictatorship. The Shoah was put into perspective several times. At the same time, participants opposed supporting Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression, calling for peace and an end to the West’s alleged warmongering.
The mobile advice against right-wing extremism (MBR) observed a “regionalization of the protests, which recently had little impact on the outside and mostly only mobilized a hard core”.
