The politician Juliane Nagel (Die Linke) stands in front of a photo wall on the occasion of the constituent session of the Saxon state parliament. © Sebastian Kahnert/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Is the left-wing autonomous scene allowed to demonstrate on "Day X" in Leipzig or not - this decision will be made in court. The organizers have filed a lawsuit against the ban on their demonstration.
Leipzig - The organizers of the "Day X" demonstration in Leipzig are defending themselves legally against the ban by the city. An urgent application against the ban had been received, said the spokesman for the Leipzig Administrative Court, Dirk Tolkmitt, on Friday. The competent Senate will decide on this in the course of the day. The police continue to prepare a large-scale operation for Saturday. As early as Friday 18:00 p.m., a so-called control area will apply, which covers large parts of the city area in the east, south and west of Leipzig. There, the police can stop and control people without any special reason.
The city of Leipzig had banned the "Day X" demonstration planned for Saturday with the motto "United we stand - In spite of everything, defend autonomous anti-fascism!" on Thursday, because an unpeaceful course was to be feared. This is based on danger forecasts by the police and situation assessments by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In left-wing circles, there had been nationwide mobilization. According to the police, there are also threats of violence and calls for militancy.
"Day X" is a reaction to the conviction of student Lina E. and the three co-defendants for assaults on alleged or actual neo-Nazis. The quartet was sentenced on Wednesday by the Higher Regional Court of Dresden to several years in prison for bodily injury and membership or support of a criminal organization. Lina E., who had been in custody for two and a half years, was provisionally released after the verdict was announced.
On Wednesday evening there had been a solidarity demo for Lina E. It had been stopped right at the beginning due to violations of conditions and a significantly excessive number of participants. After that, the situation escalated briefly. Stones and firecrackers were thrown at police officers.
On Thursday evening, Juliane Nagel, a member of the state parliament for the Left Party, was caught in a police action as the applicant for a youth demonstration on Children's Day. Video images of the police's actions triggered fierce criticism. On social networks, the police, the Ministry of the Interior and the city of Leipzig are accused of escalating the situation around "Day X". A police spokesman pointed out that numerous anti-police slogans had been shouted at the youth demonstration.
According to police, Nagel met on Friday with the Leipzig police chief René Demmler and the Saxon Minister of the Interior, Armin Schuster (CDU) for talks. In doing so, they had dealt objectively and critically with the police operation on Thursday and the meeting. The participants had agreed that there was uncertainty and fears of riots before "Day X" and that de-escalation had to be the order of the day.
In connection with the "Day X" ban, Friday evening in Leipzig also became the focus of attention. In the Connewitz district, a "mass corner" was called for in the evening. Various Antifa and anarchy accounts campaigned for "taking the streets". Solidarity cannot be banned, the appeals say.
In addition to "Day X", a number of other major events are scheduled for the weekend in Leipzig. It's a city festival, Herbert Grönemeyer gives a concert in front of tens of thousands of visitors and on Saturday Lok Leipzig and Chemnitzer FC play for the Saxon Cup. A cancellation of this football match had been considered, but then discarded. Dpa
