Opponents and supporters of the Corona measures faced each other at Rathausplatz in Unterschleißheim.
We were there.
Unterschleißheim
– On Monday evening, opponents and supporters of the corona measures faced each other in the cold on the Unterschleißheim town hall square.
20 meters and a gulf of opposing opinions separated the groups.
On the one hand a crowd of 220 so-called walkers, without distance and masks.
On the other about 70 people who kept their distance and wore FFP2 masks.
They followed the call of the Greens Bernhard Schüßler and Helmut Göbel and demonstrated for a solidarity fight against the pandemic.
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The problem is hate, says one participant.
© Gerald Fortsch
The police positioned themselves with around 30 emergency services in between: "We protect both events to ensure the right to freedom of expression," said a spokesman.
There were no sticky situations.
However, a convicted right-wing extremist from Oberschleißheim, who belongs to the Third Way, was seen among the “walkers”.
AfD city councilor Peter Kremer was also spotted.
Schüßler and Göbel had registered 50 people for the counter-demo “Solidarity instead of swaggering”.
Shortly thereafter, the opponents of the Corona measures also informed the police about their "walk".
The police then called for more personnel.
“You have to distinguish between opinion and scientifically based facts“
Mayor Christoph Böck and numerous city councilors are among the demonstrators for solidarity, who want to send a non-partisan signal.
At the beginning, Bernhard Schüßler invites you to a minute's silence "for the many people who lost their lives in the corona crisis".
In his speech, he shows understanding that simple solutions are sought in difficult situations, “but you have to separate opinions from scientifically based facts.
Hatred, violence and conspiracy theories are poison for democracy.”
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A family has prepared well and demonstrated with posters for consideration and vaccination, while hundreds of "walkers" were already on the move.
© Gerald Fortsch
The 22-year-old political scientist appreciates the performance of the carers and the difficult situation of children and young people.
SPD city councilor Birte Bode emphasizes: “Distance, mask and vaccination are reasonable demands.
They enable a way of dealing with the pandemic in solidarity.” Lissy Meyer, city councilor for the Greens, as a nurse and hospice worker, declares solidarity with caregivers and the seriously ill.
Thomas Schulze from Unterschleißheim spontaneously grabs the microphone: "It's not easy for me to speak here, but it has to be.
My brother-in-law died miserably of Covid.
Get vaccinated.” Florian Dietrich from Unterhaching warns of veiled messages from right-wing extremists and anti-Semites, which were used in the corona protests.
Actually, "everybody's fed up," says Greens member of the state parliament Claudia Köhler, "I don't have a nerve either." Nevertheless, she is there and warns: "Protest is legitimate, but with distance and a mask.
It is not legitimate to tolerate right-wing extremists.
You have to be active and set yourself apart.”
“We are reclaiming our fundamental rights”
But on the other hand, the opponents of vaccination do not articulate themselves.
No speeches, no banners, only a few heckling: "We are demanding our basic rights back," a man calls out, before the protest march starts moving and around 7 p.m. only people with masks remain in front of the town hall.
In the run-up to this, Schüßler had also received negative reactions to his call for the demo, he says, with concerns that this would deepen the social divide.
Schüßler sees it differently: "Both positions are already there.
It is important to also stand up for fighting the pandemic in solidarity.
This affects us in Unterschleißheim in particular, because there is a comparatively active right-wing extremist scene here.”
1100 walkers in the district
The police recorded nine so-called “walks” as an expression of displeasure against the corona measures taken by politicians on Monday evening in the Munich district. According to a spokesman for the Munich police headquarters, a total of around 1,100 people took part in the rallies, which all took place "without any particular incidents".
Only three meetings, namely in Unterschleißheim with 220, in Haar with 83 and in Kirchheim with 60 participants, were officially registered. There were unannounced walks in Unterhaching with 300 participants who, according to the police, “atypically changed the direction of the train several times”, Ottobrunn (160), Ismaning (90), Oberhaching (80), Sauerlach (80) and Neuried (60).
We provide information about all developments relating to the corona virus in the district of Munich in our news ticker.
