More than ten thousand participants were expected. According to the police count, around 1,500 opponents of the vaccination requirement, which the Bundestag debated on Wednesday afternoon, came. Even the police were there in greater numbers: with a large contingent of over 2000 emergency services. It was supported by units from other federal states. The officials cordoned off the parliament and government district. There they posted several water cannons, each with 10,000 liter tanks. The police helicopter circled in the sky for hours.
Apparently it was cold and raining, which kept many critics of the Corona measures from the “large nationwide demonstration”, which was mobilized on the Internet and on channels such as the messenger service Telegram.
Andreas Kopietz
Opponents of compulsory vaccination are demonstrating in Mitte on Wednesday.
This afternoon, 20 to 30 counter-demonstrators gather on the square of March 18 in front of the Brandenburg Gate for a registered and approved rally under the motto “Think straight”. There are also a few small counter-demos of left-wing groups in the vicinity of the demonstration, protesting against “lateral thinkers”, Nazis and conspiracy believers.
In fact, supporters of right-wing groups from Berlin and Brandenburg have mingled with the demonstrators, even if they do not make up the – visible – majority, which consists mainly of middle-class-looking audiences. “Should I accuse the right-wing and ask them to leave?”, an older woman from Berlin replies to the question of why it is so difficult for many Corona demonstrators to distance themselves from the right-wing extremists, something that politicians and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution have repeatedly accused them of . “Or should I stay at home so as not to be suspected of being a Nazi?” She is in favor of democracy and a functioning constitutional state without political arbitrariness, she says.
Forbidden: Star of David with the inscription “unvaccinated”
Because it has happened again and again in recent times that the Federal Republic of Germany has been equated with the Nazi dictatorship and the Shoah has been played down during demonstrations against corona measures, the Berlin police have also announced that this Wednesday they will strengthen their opposition to wearing Stars of David with the inscription to proceed “unvaccinated”. “Anyone caught with signs of an adapted Jewish star will be investigated for disturbing the public peace,” said a police spokeswoman.
The police repeatedly asked the demonstrators to leave the street because it was an unannounced meeting – on Wilhelmstrasse in front of the ARD capital studio, on Unter den Linden boulevard in front of the Russian embassy. It is pushed, scolded, bumped. A woman yells at a police officer: “You idiot! You could be my son!”
Andreas Kopietz
Demonstrators discuss with police officers who do not let them through.
Police officers take a number of demonstrators and their personal details. The offenders will receive reports, including administrative offense reports for violating the Assembly Act, for not wearing a mask over their mouth and nose or for standing too close together on the street. Some have been arrested, including for resisting law enforcement officials. Many demonstrators are held by the police until the early evening because the identity checks take so long. For this purpose, the police have set up a “processing line” made of tables near the Brandenburg Gate, along with a prison toilet. “There are a large number of personal identifications,” says a police spokesman. An exact number and a balance of the demonstrations could only be communicated on Thursday.
As darkness fell, the situation calmed down to a large extent, even if there were still a few people out walking who shouted “We’ll be back!”. The water cannons were not used, unlike last summer at the Brandenburg Gate. Because the water came from the clouds above, there was no need for sprayers.