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Supporter of the "lateral thinking" movement on Easter Saturday in Stuttgart
Photo: Thomas Niedermueller / Getty Images
In Stuttgart, thousands of people gathered at a rally of the "lateral thinking" movement on the Cannstatter Wasen to demonstrate against the Corona requirements.
The police have been on duty in various parts of the city since the morning, as ten rallies, some of them different, had been registered in advance.
For the central rally in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt alone, the authorities had expected 2500 participants.
This number was clearly exceeded in the early afternoon, the Stuttgart police could not give more precise information.
The applicants spoke of 6,000 participants.
When asked whether people wore masks on the way to the central rally in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, the Stuttgart police spokesman Stefan Keilbach replied: "I see 20 people here with masks, and they are police officers."
The "lateral thinking" movement and its comrades-in-arms speak out against the current Corona measures and are being monitored by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Baden-Württemberg.
Road blockades by counter-demonstrators
Counter-demonstrators tried to prevent participants in one of the gatherings from proceeding to the central rally.
"Some of them stood masked with bicycles or sat on the federal highway 14 and are still there now," said a police spokesman in the afternoon.
The police will have to carry them away if necessary, and the street will have to be cleared.
Officials tried it first with speeches and evictions.
According to the police, the corona requirements were largely violated within a demonstration by the Corona critics, which was on the way from downtown Stuttgart to the central rally.
The officers repeatedly advised the demonstrators to put on masks and keep the prescribed distances.
Police helicopters were deployed over the city area to capture what was happening.
The pictures also show that many demonstrators ignored the applicable corona rules.
In a tweet from the police it was said: "We will document violations of masks and distances with evidence." A photographer from the German Press Agency reported a festival atmosphere among participants in a gathering on Marienplatz in downtown Stuttgart.
The city of Stuttgart had announced that it would dissolve meetings in the event of violations of the mask requirement and the prescribed intervals.
The spokesman for the city of Stuttgart, Sven Matis, tweeted on Saturday: "We are wide awake." The police are on site with several hundred officers.
Stuttgart saw no way for a demo ban
The day before, the Ministry of Health expressed great concern about the planned events.
Ministerial Director Uwe Lahl insisted that a ban would have been possible on the basis of the Corona regulation.
"My prognosis is that the hygiene rules will not be adhered to at the event," Lahl said on Good Friday.
At this point in time, however, the city of Stuttgart saw no way of imposing a ban.
"The bar for a ban on gatherings is very high," said Clemens Maier, mayor of Stuttgart who is responsible for security, order and sport.
"We cannot legally do anything against this meeting and only have the option to work subject to conditions."
Maier said that he would have wished that there were rules for such gatherings as there are for religious services.
According to an ordinance of the Ministry of Culture, outdoor events are only allowed with a maximum of 500 people.
If there were such a regulation from the Ministry of Social Affairs, "then we as a city would be out of the obligation to justify a ban".
Last summer, up to 10,000 people demonstrated on the Wasen.
Most recently, on March 20, a demonstration in Kassel with more than 20,000 people hit the headlines - only 6000 were allowed. There were sometimes violent clashes.
irb / dpa