|
2021-08-13 Europe
|
|
Hundreds arrested in Berlin protests against Covid restrictions
|
|
From 2.August. [TheGuardian] Protesters defy court order banning marches against German government’s coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
 ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
measures
More than 600 people have been arrested after participating in protests against the German government’s coronavirus measures, officials have said.
About 13 separate demonstrations took place around Berlin on Sunday, despite being banned by a court order and participants saying they would not follow safety rules.
Most of the approximately 5,000 protesters — a fraction of the 22,500 expected before the ban was announced — failed to stick to social distancing rules or to wear medical masks, according to police.
After participants did not heed orders to abide by hygiene rules, police used pepper spray and truncheons to break up the crowds. Water cannon and a tank similar to an armoured recovery vehicle were on hand but not needed, according to police.
Police confirmed that a 49-year-old man, who had travelled from the Rhineland region with his son to participate, collapsed and later died after breaking through a barrier.
A postmortem into the cause of his death has been ordered by a Berlin court.
The head of the Berlin-Brandenburg branch of the German Journalist Union (DJU), Jörg Reichel, was attacked on the sidelines of the protest, after months in which he has attempted to monitor the Querdenker (lateral thinker) movement. The movement is against the government’s attempts to restrict the spread of coronavirus, calling the measures fascist
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
ic, and condemning the vaccine campaign as a form of apartheid.
Reichel, who according to witnesses was pulled from his bicycle and beaten and kicked before passersby intervened, had been acting as an observer for journalists covering the protests, a growing number of whom have reported being verbally and physically attacked by demonstrators.
Monique Hofmann, head of the DJU, said that Reichel, who is undergoing hospital treatment, had been receiving threats from the Querdenker scene for months, and that his picture and name had been circulated on numerous channels associated with the movement on the instant messaging service Telegram.
Several coppers were also injured on Sunday.
Police announced on Monday that three further demonstrations planned later in the day, under the titles "Year of Freedom and Peace" and "Free Life, Free Love", had also been banned.
Organisers have complained that they are being treated differently from other political demonstrations, such as the Christopher Street Day parade that took place in Berlin last month, attracting 65,000 participants. Mask-wearing and physical distancing rules were often ignored at that event.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the president of the German parliament, led condemnation of the Querdenker protests, arguing that the participants’ dismissal of mainstream scientific knowledge on the virus was irresponsible, and appealed to them to respect the evidence.
"If almost all experts globally are saying coronavirus is dangerous and vaccines help, who then actually has the right to say ’I know better’?" he told the Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung. "For me, that is an almost unbearable degree of arrogance." He added: "Look at the science ... don’t be led down the garden path by cheap slogans."
Meet Germany's 'Querdenker' COVID protest movement
From April: [DW] The trained business administrator Michael Ballweg founded the Querdenker (lateral thinkers) movement in the city of Stuttgart in 2020. Organizing it has become his full-time job, as the movement has spread.The Querdenker include pandemic skeptics, anti-vaxxers and anti-lockdown protesters. They claim the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal and regional laws aimed at halting the spread of the virus, infringe on citizens' liberties.
Now, protesters regularly take to the streets in cities across the country.Often the demonstrations turn violent mostly peaceful.
But images of festivities between demonstrators and police do not fit the image the Querdenker like to create for themselves. Michael Ballweg and his followers are always quick to emphasize their peacefulness and loyalty to the German Constitution.
This is exactly what happened in mid-March in Kassel. More than three times the permitted 6,000 participants marched through the streets. Most of them didn't follow social distancing rules of 1.5 meters, nor did they wear face masks. Counter-demonstrators were also on the move. As the situation grew increasingly confusing and violent mostly peaceful. Police were using batons, pepper spray, and water cannon. Photos and video footage of coppers beating demonstrators continue to circulate online.
Christopher Vogel works in the mobile advisory team against racism and far-right extremism in Kassel and has observed the demo on the ground. He considers general criticism of officials' behavior to be unfair, he told DW. The situation was confusing, he said: There were festivities between right- and left-wing radicals, but in between were families with young children and some demonstrators put their children "in the front row, as protective shields so to speak," Vogel recalled. His conclusion: "It was no longer manageable."
Deutschland l Protest gegen Corona-Maßnahmen Berlin, Reichsflagge
No political ambitions
The substance of the movement is "extremely thin," he said. In principle, Querdenker are only concerned with their individual freedom and have no further socio-political demands.
"They just want to get back to normal and have some peace and quiet from the state," Vogel said. If COVID-19 disappears from the front pages, a large part will say goodbye to political engagement.
This assessment fits in with the results of a study published in December 2020 by sociologists at the University of Basel, Oliver Nachtwey. He and his team asked more than 1,100 "Querdenker" about their motives and attitudes. Almost half of them had never participated in a demonstration before the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
 ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
protests.
"In terms of demographics, it's a relatively old and relatively academic movement," is one finding. Less than 10% are younger than 30, and the average age is almost 50.
Almost two-thirds of those surveyed have at least a high school diploma, more than half of them have finished their university education, and 67% consider themselves to be middle class.
23% of the surveyed Querdenker said they had cast their ballots for the Greens in Germany's 2017 federal election. Eighteen percent voted for the Left party and 15% for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). But, that was long before the pandemic. In September's elections, the AfD could almost double votes in Querdenker circles to 27%, while the Greens and conservative CDU/CSU would not get any support at all.
According to the Basel study, the vast majority of Querdenker, say they'll vote for little-known splinter parties in September, such as the Basic Democratic Party of Germany, which was only founded in July 2020. On that party's homepage, there are statements like: "Anyone who claims that freedom prevails in our country is lying. Because freedom does not prevail."
This perceived lack of freedom appeals to the Querdenker: 80% of those polled said they agree with the statement that one can no longer express their opinion without getting into trouble. Around 75% believe the media and politics are in cahoots, and that the government is hiding the truth.
The Querdenker movement is characterized by a strong sense of alienation, the study showed, not only from state institutions and the political system and the established media.
But the Querdenker followers were also found to be not "downright xenophobic or Islamophobic" and in some cases "rather anti-authoritarian and inclined towards anthroposophy."
|
Posted by trailing wife 2021-08-13 00:00||
||
Front Page|| [13 views ]
Top
|
|
20:34 swksvolFF
19:24 trailing wife
19:08 Mullah Richard OTR
19:06 Mullah Richard OTR
18:59 Rambler in Virginia
18:57 Bobby
18:12 M. Murcek
17:57 Procopius2k
17:44 swksvolFF
17:25 Raj
17:23 Super Hose
17:21 Super Hose
17:19 Super Hose
17:19 swksvolFF
17:15 swksvolFF
17:06 Super Hose
17:04 Super Hose
17:02 Super Hose
16:53 Super Hose
16:51 M. Murcek
16:48 Super Hose
16:47 swksvolFF
16:43 swksvolFF
16:42 M. Murcek
|
