According to the police, several hundred people came to the protests in Stuttgart.
Photo: THOMAS KIENZLE / AFPOpponents of the corona protective measures gathered in Stuttgart on Saturday for a "lateral thinking" demo. In the afternoon, the police spoke of several hundred participants, the organizers named the number 5000. First, the participants had gathered on Marienplatz in the heat and then moved towards the city center. Demonstrators showed banners with inscriptions such as "With a mask - without me" or "We saw through you". They chanted "freedom, freedom". The demonstration was organized by the initiative "lateral thinking 711".
Former VfB player Thomas Berthold also gave a speech at the rally.
The police said that the afternoon was going to be calm. The participants try to keep the required minimum distances. Thousands of people protested against the corona restrictions in Berlin last weekend. The police broke up the rally because many of the demonstrators did not observe the rules of distance or wore masks. The organizers announced in Stuttgart that they wanted to demonstrate again in Berlin on August 29th and also invited the Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) and US President Donald Trump to do so.
According to a survey, a large majority of the population rejects demonstrations against the measures to protect against infection with the coronavirus. In a survey published on Saturday by the Forsa Institute on behalf of Mediengruppe RTL, 91 percent said they did not understand the protests. According to the "RTL / ntv trend barometer", only nine percent expressed their approval. A clear majority (87 percent) was also of the opinion that the people who take to the streets against the measures represent only a minority of the population.
Icon: The mirrorhpi / dpa