In the afternoon it gets tricky on the edge of Nettelbeckplatz in Wedding. A well-known lateral thinker yells at police officers for minutes, refuses to put on his mask, accuses the officials of driving Germany straight into dictatorship. The police remain calm and do not arrest him. The lateral thinker continues to scream and wants to know whether demonstrators will soon be shot at, as they did in the GDR.
The brief excitement cannot hide one thing: the crowd of lateral thinkers on the first day of the long-announced protest weekend turns out to be much smaller than expected. The movement has only mobilized a few hundred supporters, the big comeback of the corona downplayers does not appear for the time being. Now the scene is hoping to bring crowds to the streets, at least this Sunday. Ultimately, the federal government is to be overthrown.
In the morning, the leaders of the lateral thinkers are optimistic that the ban on the big rally on Sunday in the Tiergarten will be overturned by the Higher Administrative Court – the OVG confirmed the ban on another demo in the afternoon.
If that also applies to the rally, people will come anyway, says the Sinsheim conspiracy ideologist Bodo Schiffsmann. People will “meet up with friends” in the zoo, make music and dance …
Thinking outside the box: In the end, only moderate to disastrous numbers of participants
The messenger service Telegram gives lateral thinking tips on how arriving demonstrators can trick the police. Among other things, the group advises everyone who comes to Berlin by bus not to be dropped off at the Tiergarten. There the police will send you back to your hometown. Better: get off at a safe distance and continue on foot. Followers are also asked to hide their signs and whistles until they reach the meeting places.
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A success on Sunday is also important to those responsible because the lateral thinking rallies recently had only moderate to disastrous numbers of participants. Any further failure would solidify the impression that the movement has outlived itself.
Tiergarten and the Holocaust memorial cordoned off with bars
However, experts assume that lateral thinking will gain momentum again in the fall, should the fourth wave of the pandemic require more stringent measures. In addition, the conspiracy believers could open up topics apart from Corona – and denounce measures against climate change as restrictions on freedom.
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On Saturday morning there is hardly anything to be seen from the lateral thinkers in the government district. This is also due to the fact that the police cordoned off a large area of the zoo and the Holocaust memorial with metal bars – apparently a precautionary measure, since, among other things, an unauthorized demonstration of the corona downplayers formed in the zoo at Whitsun.
The competition considers lateral thinking to be “controlled opposition”
Hours later, several motorcade parades through the city, which also called for lateral thinking. One started in front of the Olympic Stadium, another from a parking lot in Hellersdorf. However, the action angered a Berlin group of conspiracy believers who regularly organize car parades in the city.
After all, you yourself have been active in Berlin since January. In addition, lateral thinking is about “controlled opposition”, so the Ballweg troops are not really against the “Merkel regime” – in contrast to themselves. The local group therefore called for its own parade through Treptow-Köpenick.
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A large protest concert by opponents of the corona measures was actually planned for Saturday. However, this was canceled at short notice. Bodo Schiffmann explains that one of the artists is ill and another is ill.
“The Basis”: Not allowed to vote, internal power struggle
The meeting in the afternoon on Nettelbeckplatz was organized by the lateral thinker party “Die Basis” – it was only on Friday that the state electoral committee decided not to allow them to participate in the general election. “Die Basis” has founded local groups in all districts, and a power struggle is currently raging internally.
A group around the conspiracy ideologues Reiner Fuellmich and Wolfgang Wodarg accuses party friends and parts of the federal executive committee of behavior that is harmful to the party. They neglected the fight against the corona measures, occupied themselves too much with other topics.
In an open letter, Fuellmich writes: “It hardly matters whether these incorrigible individuals were smuggled into the party solely for the purpose of decomposition and destabilization, or whether they unfold their destructive effect out of naivety.” The party’s profile should not be watered down.
[Lesen Sie mehr: Die vielen Fehlschläge der „Querdenker“: So oft irren sich die Verschwörungsideologen]
The allegations are not mentioned at the meeting in Wedding. Instead, melancholy songs are sung on a stage. A speaker tries to demonstrate the need for a mask using a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Another knows why there are more and more disputes within the movement: The pharmaceutical industry has smuggled in so-called “decomposition agents”. They tried to destroy the protest groups from within.
Miracle cure against Corona: “Blood plasma therapy” from Russia
In the evening a speaker explains what really helps against the virus: “Blood plasma therapy” has been developed in Russia, says the man. This method can cure Corona without any problems. But the German mass media would keep that from the people.
Then a speaker says the corona pandemic is a crisis of capitalism. But the left in Germany does not protest against being part of the “planemy” and participating in the manipulation of the masses. The two men belong to the ideological conspiracy group “Free Left”, which regularly demonstrates against the Corona measures.
Police count 60 freedom restrictions on Saturday
The police arrested some lateral thinkers at the Brandenburg Gate in order to establish their identity. They had previously attended an unauthorized meeting on March 18 Square. That was broken up by the emergency services.
Some of the former participants are now standing around in small groups on Pariser Platz, on the other side of the gate. They are hardly noticeable among tourists. The emergency services are still present to prevent further meetings. On the whole, however, the first day of the protests was largely calm. Shortly after 8 p.m., the police recorded 60 restrictions on freedom for the entire Saturday.