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Demonstrators in Konstanz: pray and protest
Photo: Felix Kästle / dpa
The sun is shining over Little Venice.
This is the name of the fairground in Konstanz, not far from the old town on the shores of Lake Constance, where this Sunday the initiative "lateral thinking" is protesting against the corona measures of politics.
Around 2,500 to 3,000 demonstrators came, according to the police.
They have brought blankets and provisions.
The atmosphere is more like a picnic than an overthrow.
But the thrust is clear.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Health Minister Jens Spahn are described as "constitutional (criminal) criminals" and the parties as "Covid Mafia" on posters.
"Masks are child abuse," reads another banner.
At the same time, the speakers on stage polemic against minimum distance and an alleged vaccination requirement.
"They want to turn us into numbers!" Shouts one of them.
He has a "huggable" button on his shirt.
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None of the demonstrators wears a mouth and nose covering.
The crowd is mixed, there are families with children, some young people and many older people.
The lateral thinkers mostly wear all-purpose clothing and hiking shoes, with backpacks.
There are esoteric women and doctors, teachers and restaurateurs who have gone bankrupt.
A Krishna monk tries to bring his writings to the people.
Free Church Seven-day Adventists use the opportunity to do missionary work.
Lessons from the escalation in Berlin
The atmosphere is peaceful.
This is also ensured by a massive police presence.
The fact that the lateral thinking demo takes place in Konstanz is related to the escalation in Berlin at the end of August.
According to the police, 38,000 people demonstrated against the Corona measures there.
Including conspiracy theorists, citizens of the Reich - and right-wing extremists who tried to storm the Reichstag.
The Stuttgart initiative "lateral thinking 711" is currently not monitored by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Baden-Württemberg.
A spokesman for the service stated, however, that "right-wing extremists as well as 'Reichsbürger' and 'self-administrators' have been influencing the demonstrations against the state measures practically since the beginning of the corona pandemic".
The development will be continuously analyzed.
After the "storming of the Reichstag", lateral thinking chief organizer Michael Ballweg had distanced himself from right-wing influence and declared that they would move to Lake Constance and make a spatial separation from extremists.
The Stuttgart IT entrepreneur has apparently succeeded in doing this.
"Nobody from the right-wing spectrum is out and about at the demonstration in Constance," a police spokesman told SPIEGEL.
"Nobody from the right spectrum is out and about at the demonstration in Konstanz."
Police spokesman
The city had banned imperial war flags and imperial flags in advance.
According to the police, around 2,200 so-called lateral thinkers took to the streets against the Corona measures yesterday in the city area.
At the same time, around 11,000 demonstrators tried to form a complete human chain at the lake, which was supposed to connect Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
But that didn't work.
"From mega-event to unrealistic air bubble"
The German organizers had previously announced that up to 250,000 people would take part in the human chain.
But their Swiss comrades-in-arms gave up days ago.
In a statement by the Zurich offshoot of the movement it was said that the "grandly announced mega-event with a ship demo and gigantic fireworks display is developing more and more into an unrealistic air bubble."
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Demonstrator in Constance: let the anger run free
Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS
That doesn't bother the demonstrators in Little Venice.
They are happy to finally be able to let their anger over the virus, the state and the "mainstream media" run free again.
"The corona measures are out of proportion to the number of infections," says Wolfgang Rasenberger.
The 61-year-old flight captain, currently on short-time work, came to Constance with his wife Ramona from Saxony-Anhalt.
She says: "I grew up in the East and sometimes have the feeling that it will be the same as it was back then. You can no longer say what you want."
He says: "We are referred to as 'Covidiotes'. Many scientific voices are simply ignored in the discussion."
He describes the measures taken by the federal government as "abuse of power".
They are far too far-reaching to be decided without consulting the citizens.
Driven by distrust
The Green politician and security expert Konstantin von Notz told SPIEGEL: "Of course, democratic protest is legitimate, also and especially against the far-reaching restrictions on freedom of the Corona measures."
Compliance with the measures to combat pandemics is important, but of course that does not mean "that they do not have to be regularly checked for their necessity and proportionality. That is a matter of course under the rule of law."
Hardly anyone at the lateral thinking demonstration has confidence in the rule of law.
Above all, it is a deep distrust that drives the protesters.
The event in Constance lasts until the late evening hours.
After that, calm returns to Little Venice.
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