Protests over COVID-19 policies in Germany

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COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests
in Germany
Part of protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
Vicent-van-Volkmer-Bienen-Aktivist-Demo-29.08.2020 Berlin Covid-19 Pandemie.jpg
Vincent van Volkmer, protesting bee activist with a "Free The Bee" notice board, in a bee costume during the COVID-19 protests in Berlin on 29 August 2020, near the Brandenburg Gate.
Date4 April 2020–present
Location
Berlin and several other cities
Caused by
Goals
  • Ending COVID-19 restrictions in Germany
Methods
StatusOngoing
Arrests
Arrested1100+

Since April 2020, when Germany's Constitutional Court ruled that the governmental lockdown imposed in March to counter the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow blanket bans on rallies,[2] several protests have been held in Germany against the two lockdowns and other anti-pandemic regulations. The protests attracted a mix of people from varied backgrounds, including supporters of populist ideas who felt called to defend against what they saw as an arrogant central government; supporters of various conspiracy theories; and sometimes far right-wing groups.[3] Anti-vaxxers generally also formed a major part of the protesters.[4][5] Some protesters held strongly negative views towards public media, who they believed to report in an unfair manner;[6] repeatedly, journalists covering the rallies were subjected to harassment and physical attacks.[7][8][9] Such attacks were the main reason why Germany slipped from eleventh to 13th place in the Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders, according to a report published on 20 April 2021.[10]

Since about mid-2020, the main organizer of the protests has been a group called Querdenken ("lateral thinking"), which was initially based in Stuttgart[11] but soon started to organize rallies also in Berlin and other cities. In the second lockdown beginning in November 2020, as protests sometimes turned violent, observers considered it possible that more radical conspiracy theories and far-right groups were increasing their influence in the movement.[11] In several cases, higher courts overturned decisions by local authorities to ban rallies, but a ban on a rally planned for 5 December in the northern city of Bremen was upheld,[12] as on two rallies planned for 12 December in Frankfurt and Dresden.[13]

Protests were frequently accompanied by counterprotests, which resulted in tense situations as police tried to keep the groups apart.[13] Police was criticized on several occasions for its de-escalation strategy which allowed pandemic regulations to be violated,[14] and for its actions against counterprotesters.[15] Some observers noted that police faced difficulties in devising containment strategies due to the unusual mixture of protesters, which on several occasions included families with children and retirees.[16][17]

Background[edit]

Water cannon of the police ST1 and ST2 - Saxony-Anhalt - "Einsatzraum Dresden" - in front of the police station "Dresden Schießgasse" - on Saturday 17. April 2021

From 22 March 2020, Germany entered a first lockdown in order to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control.[18] It was eventually extended, with some differences among federal states, until June 2020.[19] The lockdown regulations included, besides a physical distancing requirement of 1,5 metres in public – to which a requirement to wear a nose and mouth covering in stores and on public transport was added in late April[20] –, initially also a prohibition for restaurateurs to provide in-house dining; also, service providers in close-contact professions, such as hair-dressers, cosmetic, massage and tattoo studios, were required to close.[18]

The first protest of what became to be known as Hygienedemos (hygiene demonstrations) took place on 28 March in Berlin,[21] and soon spread to other cities in Germany. At the 28 March rally no speeches were given, with its motto, "Defend basic rights – say no to dictatorship" also reflecting demands repeated at later weekly Hygienedemos. Observers noted that participants were from very disparate groups, some even holding conflicting views; they further noted that while the protesters were united in rejecting the anti-pandemic measures by the government – in which they saw violations of basic rights enshrined in the German constitution, such as the freedom of trade in view of the prohibitions mentioned above –, they lacked a common notion how they wanted society to be reshaped.[22] During May, attendance at the Hygienedemos generally decreased sharply. This was attributed by observers to a combination of several factors: the relaxation of the lockdown that had been imposed in March; a high level of satisfaction in the general population about the government's handling of the crisis; the impact of counter-protests; and the recognition by the general population that the protests had shown to be utilized by the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) and violent or extreme right-wing individuals sprouting conspiracy theories, including vegan chef Attila Hildmann.[23] The German non-government organization platform Campact warned its members against attending the Hygienedemos.[24]

From mid 2020, the main organizer of protests has been a group called Querdenken ("lateral thinking"), which was initially based in Stuttgart[11] but soon started to organize rallies also in Berlin and other cities; the individual groups often appended a number to their name indicating the phone area code (such as Querdenken 711 for Stuttgart). The Querdenken rallies saw a varied mixture of participants.[25] While protests became smaller after those of summer 2020, violence became more frequent.[26] There were increasing concerns that the rallies were becoming a platform for far-right, and even extremist, views, and that many protesters were embracing conspiracy theories, notably those of the QAnon movement originating in the United States.[11][27] Since March 2021, several rallies were organized by an initiative called Es reicht uns ("We have had enough").[28]

In a number of instances, local authorities banned rallies as they deemed coronavirus protection plans submitted by the organizers as insufficient, also given the considerable numbers of protesters which these rallies began to attract from mid 2020. Several rallies only went ahead after a partial or whole overturn of such bans via court appeals. Prohibitions began to be upheld more often from late 2020, such as for a rally that had been planned in the northern city of Bremen for 5 December,[12] as on two rallies planned for 12 December in Frankfurt and Dresden.[13]

After a hiatus over the New Year, Querdenken founder Michael Ballweg announced on 27 January 2021 a resumption of protests through motorcades.[1] The first such protest, drawing several hundred participants and extending over several kilometers, took place in Stuttgart the same day.[29] Over the next fortnight, several motorcades took place in Munich.[30] Smaller motorcades in Mannheim on 6 February were dissolved by police.[31]

Protests[edit]

The list of protests below is not exhaustive. Smaller protests also took place in several other cities.

April/May 2020[edit]

Berlin[edit]

At the protest of 25 April, 1,000 protesters were gathered at the Volksbühne theatre. A slogan shouted by the people was: "I want my life back".[32][33] Protest signs read: "Protect constitutional rights", "Freedom isn’t everything, but without freedom, everything is nothing", "Daddy, what is a kiss?". Physical distance requirements were violated by a part of the protesters. The police arrested 100 people, a spokesman said that "during coronavirus times and according to containment regulations, we are obliged to prevent a gathering".[33] Protesters handed out a newspaper questioning the need for lockdown measures and claiming the coronavirus is an attempt to seize power by spreading fear,[32] this newspaper quoted 127 medical doctors questioning the need for strict lockdowns.[33]

Two rallies against COVID-19 policies took place in Berlin on 9 May. At a rally in front of the Reichstag building, where conspiracy theorists had been speaking according to observations by a press photographer, police arrested about 30 protesters. The purpose of the arrests had mainly been to check identities after the minimum distance requirement had not been met multiple times, and as calls by police on protesters to observe the 50-person limit for the location were not heeded.[34] At a rally on Alexanderplatz, 86 protesters were detained.[35]

Stuttgart[edit]

Also on 25 April, in Stuttgart a protest was organized by the group Querdenken 711, which drew between 350 and 500 people. Initially, this gathering was banned, and it could only go through after the Federal Constitutional Court gave its permission.[32] This group Querdenken 711 considers the German corona restrictions to be disproportionate,[36] and since May they demand in their manifesto that all measures that they deemed to be violations of the German Constitution by the German corona measures be repealed.[37]

During May, weekly Querdenken protests in Stuttgart had participants numbering in the thousands but saw a steep drop towards the end of the month. Rallies in Berlin and other cities also considerably decreased in size.[38]

Other cities[edit]

A rally in Munich on 9 May drew more than 3,000 demonstrators, who demanded the lifting of the coronavirus related restrictions. While many participants did not heed the instructions by police to maintain the physical distancing requirement, police refrained from dispersing the protesters "on the grounds of proportionality", as there was no violence. Thousands of others joined protests in Stuttgart and other German cities.[39]

1 August, Berlin[edit]

On Saturday, 1 August, Querdenken 711 organized a demonstration in the capital Berlin.[36] The master of ceremonies told the crowd to maintain some physical distance so as not to give the authorities a "pretext" to break up the event, but police reported that most demonstrators did not adhere to social distancing rules.[40]

The police at first stated there had been 20,000 protesters.[41] That number caused commotion, the organizers estimated there might have been 800,000 or more people. This number was dismissed by media fact-checkers as improbable.[42] The police later reconsidered their counting, and on Friday, 28 August, raised it to 30,000 demonstrators.[43]

29 August, Berlin[edit]

On Saturday 29 August, two demonstrations were organized by Querdenken 711 in Berlin. Leading politicians of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), including Tino Chrupalla and Björn Höcke, called for participation at the demonstrations, as did far-right political activist Götz Kubitschek.[44]

Invitation by the AfD party in Mainz to a New Year's reception on 16 January 2021. The added sticker says that the event was cancelled "thanks" to the lockdown, implying disapproval of the measure. The AfD is considered as supporting the protests to a large degree.

In total 38,000 people gathered according to official police statements,[45][46] from Germany and other European countries.[47] A previous ban by the authorities on the protests had been nullified by the courts.[48]

In the morning, 18,000 people had gathered in the city centre, planning to march from Unter den Linden to the Brandenburger Tor and Großer Stern. But as most demonstrators refused to keep the dictated 1½ meters distance or wear a nose and mouth covering, the police dispersed this demonstration after a few hours.[46][49]

In the afternoon, 30,000 people gathered at Straße des 17. Juni and Großer Stern for a demonstration with several orators.[46] Among those addressing the crowd were the American lawyer and activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of assassinated US President John F. Kennedy and son of the assassinated US presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy. Referring to the famed Ich bin ein Berliner speech that his uncle had given in the city in 1963, he told the crowd that "today Berlin is again the front against totalitarianism", warning of a surveillance state.[47][46]

Mainstream media reporting on this protest, in Germany as well as other European countries and the United States, laid more emphasis on what was called a "storming" of the Reichstag building (Parliament building) by a group of people associated with "far-right" or even "nazis" than on the concerns of most demonstrators over worldwide corona policies.[46][47][49][50][51][52] In total, police made 316 arrests,[48] among them vegan chef and conspiracy theorist Attila Hildmann.[47] A substantial number of members of the extreme-right Reichsbürger movement was present at the rallies.[53]

12 September, Munich[edit]

Permissions for a parade through the city and a static rally, both organized by Querdenken 089 – the Munich section of the Querdenken movement –, were not finalized until the early morning, when a higher court overturned an earlier prohibition. However, the parade through the city was called off after organizers were unable to enforce the requirement on protesters to wear a nose and mouth covering, and the requirement on minimum physical distance. Also, at about 3,000, the number of protesters was much higher than the 500 which had been approved by authorities.

The main rally in the afternoon on the Theresienwiese, which had been cordoned off by police, was attended by about 10,000 protesters according to police estimates. Participants were warned to observe the nose and mouth covering and physical distancing rules. Police announced that legal action would be taken against about 100 participants who did not wear a mask.

During the rally, speakers addressed a wide range of grievances. They denounced the nose and mouth covering requirement as "muzzle" (the German equivalent Maulkorb has the additional meaning of something that restricts free speech), likened the police to that of communist East Germany, and proclaimed that they would refuse a coronavirus vaccination when it would become available.

The rally was considered by police to have been by and large peaceful. A counterdemonstration which focused on the right-wing conspiracy theories which they saw as being propagated at the event drew about 1,000 people, according to police estimates. There were sporadic clashes between the two groups.[54][55]

20 September, Düsseldorf[edit]

A protest against COVID-19 related government restrictions took place on 20 September in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state capital Düsseldorf. Participants were required to maintain the physical distancing requirement of 1.5 metres as per NRW pandemic bylaws, but were not required to wear masks. Several counterdemonstrations were held in the city on the same day.[56]

3–4 October, Konstanz[edit]

Protests organized by Querdenken took place in Konstanz over two days. For the protests on 3 October, police estimated an attendance of 11,000 to 12,000 participants. Protesters who did not heed the nose and mouth cover requirement during an outdoor church service clashed with police who had been deployed to ensure that this requirement was met. For 4 October, organizers had called for a human chain of protesters around Lake Constance, but abandoned this plan as there were only 2,000 participants according to police. On the same day, counterprotests close to the Swiss border drew about 1,000 participants. Police used tear gas once to keep the two sides apart.[57]

7 November, Leipzig[edit]

A rally in Leipzig organized by Querdenken attracted at least 20,000 participants. Initially, police had intended the protest route to avoid the Augustusplatz in the inner city. This was overturned by the supreme administrative court of Saxony, whose decision had been based on a prospective estimate of approximately 16,000 participants, considering this to not exceed the capacity of the locality and neighbouring side streets under the physical distancing rules. Police tried to prevent the crowd – of which about 90 per cent did not heed the requirement to wear a nose and mouth covering, as police estimated – from proceeding to the inner city, but eventually allowed it through. Demonstrators sporadically clashed with police, and some attacked journalists. In response to the events, Saxony announced a tightening of pandemic related restrictions to come into force on 13 November, limiting the number of participants at rallies to a maximum of 1,000, subject to exceptions.[58]

Government spokesperson Steffen Seibert later said that "extremists, troublemakers and people prepared to use violence" had been present at the demonstration.[25]

18 November, Berlin[edit]

Police dispersing the protesters in Berlin on 18 November with water cannon, as the pandemic prevention requirements were not observed.

A protest particularly against the inclusion of current coronavirus restrictions into the Infection Protection Law took place in Berlin. Tensions ran high as protesters attempted to reach the Reichstag parliament building, in which the Bundestag was in session to discuss the law. The protesters were stopped by police in riot gear,[59] and used water cannon to disperse protesters. Almost 80 police were injured in clashes. Police made 365 arrests. The number of protesters at the rally was estimated to be over 10,000.[60] Police used water cannon to disperse the protesters; this was the first time they had come to be used in the city since 2013. In an interview the following day, the Berlin police director stated that the water cannon had deliberately been directed above the protesters (as seen in the photo) as police had intended to make the protesters feel uncomfortable in the cold weather and induce them to leave, also given that their proximity to the water cannon and the presence of children in the crowd had ruled out tougher action.[61]

On the same day, in highly unusual scenes, verbally aggressive individuals entered the Bundestag and were eventually removed by police.[62] The Tagesspiegel reported that there had been four individuals entering, on invitation by AfD politicians Petr Bystron, Udo Hemmelgarn, and Hansjörg Müller.[63] The actions by the four individuals were criticized severely by observers, who considered their verbal attacks during their actions as proof that they had not intended to have any meaningful discourse with the politicians they encountered and filmed.[64] The parliamentary advisory committee commenced an investigation of the incident.[59] A parliamentary speaker said on 14 January 2021 that two participants had been banned from the Reichstag, with the still pending cases expected to result in fines.[65]

21 November, Leipzig[edit]

Several protests and counter-protests took place in Leipzig. The group Mitteldeutschland bewegt sich registered a rally on the Kurt-Masur-Platz. As the number of protesters reached 500 – twice as many as had been registered with authorities –, police considered the capacity of the location to be reached and stopped further protesters from entering. The protest was later cancelled because the applicant was unable to produce a valid medical certificate to justify his refusal to wear a nose and mouth covering. Several hundred protesters then moved through the inner city heading for the Rathaus (Town Hall), but were stopped and encircled by police, who strove to separate protesters and counter-protesters. Police refused to issue permits for spontaneous demonstrations. According to reports, a spontaneous demonstration of about 200 protesters organized by Antifa moved through the city centre.[66]

29 November, Frankfurt an der Oder[edit]

Some 1,000 Querdenker protesters rallied in Frankfurt an der Oder, including about 150 from the city of Slubice across the border to Poland. Most of the protesters did not heed physical distancing requirements, nor did they wear nose and mouth coverings, in defiance of repeated urging by the several hundred police attending.[67][68] Querdenken founder Michael Ballweg said in his speech that the movement had no place for extremism, violence, antisemitism, and inhuman ideas; several known extremists took part in the march, however. About 150 counter-protesters marched through the inner city of Frankfurt at the Oder.[68]

5 December, Bremen[edit]

For 5 December 2020, Querdenken 421 called for a "nationwide festival for peace and freedom" with a planned 20,000 participants in Bremen. After a ban by the municipality and two rejected applications for interim legal protection at the administrative court Bremen and higher administrative court of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (OVG Bremen), the group went to the Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG, federal constitutional court) and continued to mobilize for the demonstration. The BVerfG accepted the municipality's justification that with the expected high number of participants, minimum distances could not be maintained. Despite the ban, demonstrators arrived. The Bremen authorities made clear in advance that they would not allow gatherings. Several smaller prohibited demonstrations were dispersed. In total, 800 complaints were filed, and 900 dismissals of protesters were enforced. Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer (SPD) said that Bremen had "set a signal also for other cities [...] that one has to fight back".[citation needed] This "madness" (Mäurer) would have cost the taxpayer around 750,000 euros, he said.[69]

6 December, Düsseldorf[edit]

Around 1,500 participants of the Querdenken movement went to a demonstration in the city center of Düsseldorf. Amongst them several right wing groups attended. Massive police presence, such as a mounted division, a helicopter and water guns, made it possible to keep violence and riots to a minimum.[70] In November there already was a demonstration with about 500 people, due to the new program and different speakers, such as Michael Ballweg (founder of the movement), the number rose to 1,500 participants from all over Germany.[71]

Counterdemonstrations were held at the same time, with people from Church, trade unions and the cultural scene. Their reason for demonstrating mainly was that the Querdenken movement, in their view, had not sufficiently distanced itself from right-wing groups.[70]

12 December - Frankfurt a/M, Dresden, Erfurt[edit]

In spite of legal bans on large demonstrations in Frankfurt am Main, Dresden and Erfurt on Saturday, 12 December 2020, unspecified numbers of protesters turned up anyway in Frankfurt and Dresden, clashing with police forces and with counterprotesters, while in Erfurt, 500 corona protesters also clashed with police.[13]

13 March 2021, several German cities[edit]

Protest in front of the Theodor Heuss Bridge on 13 March 2021.

Protests, with many participants being from the Querdenken movement, took place in Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart,[72] and other cities.[73] The Higher Administrative Court had banned the Querdenken demonstration in Dresden, on the grounds of the risk of infection for participants, police and passers-by – organizers had projected about 3,000 to 5,000 participants, far above the maximum of 1,000 set by coronavirus regulations in the state.[74] In spite of the ban, at the Congress Center near the state parliament, over 1,000 demonstrators gathered according to police estimates. There were reports of a tense mood as hundreds of demonstrators began to march, with many flouting the mask and physical distance requirements. The march changed its course several times as a reaction to police closing off streets; cries "The pandemic is over" were heard. Six water cannons were positioned to protect a nearby COVID-19 vaccination center. In addition, several hundred protesters rallied in the inner city. They were stopped by police and subjected to identity checks. Altogether, the day in Dresden ended with twelve injured police and three arrests for attacks on police.[74]

State Minister for Economy and Second Deputy Martin Dulig spoke on Twitter of "shocking images" of the attacks. State parliamentarian de:Kerstin Köditz of the Left Party criticized what she saw as the inability of the Ministry of the Interior and the police to implement the ban, and announced that her party would request a special meeting of the state committee on internal affairs.[74]

A demonstration at the Munich state parliament was broken up by police for having exceeded, with about 2,500 protesters attending, the permitted number of 500 protesters.[72]

20 March 2021, Kassel[edit]

Organizers under the name of "Freie Bürger Kassel – Grundrechte und Demokratie" ("Free Citizens Kassel – Basic Rights and Democracy") had registered the rally in Kassel for the day, giving a number of up to 17,500 expected participants;[9] the Querdenken movement acted as co-organizers.[75] A Higher Administrative Court had overturned a prohibition by local authorities but only allowed two rallies, capped at 5,000 and 1,000 participants, to be held at adjacent locations outside the city centre, and mandated physical distancing rules and the wearing of nose-and-mouth covers. An illegal demonstration with over 20,000 participants marched through the city center, with many protesters not maintaining physical distancing nor heeding the mask requirement. Several police and journalists were attacked; police used batons and pepper spray but largely held back, apparently to prevent the situation from escalating.[9] There were also scuffles with counterprotesters, which led to the use of water cannon by police away from the main protest site.[75] Police stated that it had made 15 arrests.[17] State parliamentarian de:Günter Rudolph of the Social Democrats criticized the police strategy as "absolutely incomprehensible retreat of the state".[9]

A social media uproar ensued from video footage showing police removing a roadblock by counterprotesters on bicycles; police stated that they would investigate the event.[76]

3 April 2021, Stuttgart[edit]

Before the rally, the Health Ministry of Baden-Württemberg had told Stuttgart authorities that the state's coronavirus regulations could be used in several ways to prohibit the large Querdenken demonstration that was anticipated; his counterpart, however, did not see these options as viable. By the early afternoon, the initial police estimate of 2,500 participants at the main rally on the Cannstatter Wasen was exceeded, later reaching over 10,000. Here and at other, smaller rallies elsewhere in the city, coronavirus regulations on nose and mouth covering and physical distancing were largely ignored by protesters, but police mostly did not enforce the rules as protests largely remained peaceful. A police spokesman later said that the decision had been part of the strategy to prevent the march towards the Wasen from passing instead through the inner city. A counter-demonstration attempted to prevent the march to the Wasen, but were dispersed by police after having rejected the offer of an alternative location. ARD Newsroom chief editor de:Marcus Bornheim condemned an attack on a team of journalists. There were also reports of stones being thrown; police was to examine related footage.[77]

21 April 2021, Berlin[edit]

Critics of pandemic related policies had registered several rallies in the city. The ban on a Querdenken rally was upheld by the administrative court, which argued that on the basis of rallies held since October 2020, participants would likely violate the law.[78]

A rally on Straße des 17. Juni, near the government precinct, attracted over 8,000 participants from throughout the country. On the day, the Bundestag discussed a toughening of the Infection Protection Act. Due to multiple violations of the physical distancing and nose and mouth covering requirements, police, which numbered approximately 2,200 from several states, ordered the dispersal of the rally at around noontime. A large number of non-compliant protesters were pushed by police into the Tiergarten area, with several clashes and arrests occurring in the process. A group of about 1,500 to 2,000 protesters later marched to Bellevue Palace; in the late afternoon, this protest was also dissolved by police due to lack of observance of the nose and mouth covering requirement.[78] A spontaneous demonstration that formed at the location was again dissolved by police after having broken through a police cordon. In total, police made around 250 arrests.[79]

Government, media and public analyses[edit]

In response to a parliamentary request from the Left Party, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) advised in early September 2020 that known proponents of extreme-right views had played a leading role at over 90 protests against coronavirus-leading restrictions since the end of April. The BfV said that the mobilization calls of right-wing extremists had broadened and intensified for the Berlin 29 August rally as compared to the Berlin 1 August rally, but had met with very limited success in their goal of connecting with democratic protests. It considered such a success at future rallies possible, though, and would continue its monitoring with a view to such developments.[53]

The Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution began to observe the core administrative layer of Querdenken in December 2020; at that time, Minister of the Interior Thomas Strobl justified this step with the presence of radical tendencies (fostering extremist and conspiracy-ideological narratives) within the movement. He emphasized that the observation did not include the participants at rallies.[1] Later on the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution began also to observe the movement. From at least April 2021 the Berlin State Office for the Protection of the Constitution targeted radical fractions of the movement with intelligence methods.[80]

In an interview in May 2020, law professor Oliver Lepsius said that peaceful dissent always had to be allowed in a democracy, and that violations of the law by single individuals were a well-known phenomenon and could not be used to prohibit demonstrations. In his view, basic rights had "definitely" been endangered in the first months of the pandemic, but that the freedom of speech had been upheld throughout the crisis. Comparisons of government corona policies to the Third Reich policies, as made by some of the protesters, were in no way appropriate.[81]

In May 2020, media professor Bernhard Pörksen told the dpa press agency that labeling the protesters as "paranoids", "hysterics", or similar wholesale attacks would only antagonize them and only serve to make it more difficult to reach the important goal of cooling down the debate. There should, he said, be no tolerance towards antisemitic or radical far-right views. Pörksen considered the ability of many citizens to distinguish between quality journalism and fake news as insufficient, and called for combating this "infodemic" along with the pandemic in the medium to long term.[82]

An article in the Tagesspiegel from May 2020 pointed out that the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was trying to capitalize on the protests, but that in doing so it was entering a difficult balancing act, as it did not want to be seen as overtly supporting conspiracy theorists.[83]

In a commentary published by Deutschlandfunk on 30 August, journalist and jurist Heribert Prantl expressed the view that the basic right to demonstrate guaranteed by the German constitution was not diminished by the pandemic situation, and that even "abstruse" demands by Querdenken protesters such as the immediate resignation of the German government had to be tolerated. Violence and Volksverhetzung were however not to be tolerated. Prantl expected from and demanded of the peaceful demonstrators, their organisers, and the police, that they confer and consider concepts and strategies to separate the peaceful demonstrators from unpeaceful people or volksverhetzende Rechtsextremisten (far-right inciters of hatred against segments of the population).[84]

The advance of protesters to the German parliament building entrance at the demonstration on 29 August 2020, and the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, were seen by observers to have parallels, crucially a deep distrust in officials and a belief in conspiracy theories, in particular QAnon.[85]

A joint study by ZEW and HU Berlin, published in February 2021, concluded that between 16,000 and 21,000 coronavirus infections could have been prevented by Christmas if two large rallies in Berlin and Leipzig in November 2020 had not taken place.[86] The methodology of the study and its conclusions were criticized by two academics as not solid.[87]

In an interview published in April 2021, author and expert on far-right movements Karolin Schwarz stated that Querdenken was exhibiting cognitive dissonance insofar as the movement readily adopted those reports from mainstream media that fitted its narrative, even though it considered the same media as generally biased against the movement and untrustworthy. She said that attacks on journalists had become "standard" at protests. She opined that the movement was justifying these attacks through espousing the notion that it was them, not the media, who stood for the truth, or through narratives – which she dismissed as false – that there had been agent provocateurs at rallies. She said that police was falling short in fulfilling its legal requirement to protect journalists at rallies, and that no attempts were made by the movement to exclude right-wing extremists.[6]

Miscellany[edit]

In a Tweet posted on 1 August 2020, Saskia Esken, co-leader of the Social Democrats, referred to participants of the Berlin rally on that day as "Covidioten", the German equivalent of covidiots. Hundreds of citizens files complaints for insult; persecutors did not start investigations, however, as they regarded this utterance as being covered under freedom of speech laws.[88]

The term Coronadiktatur ("corona dictatorship"), which had gained popularity with protesters when referring to the German government, was one of two selected words for the Un-word of the year of 2020.[89]

The attacks on journalists were the main reason why Germany slipped from eleventh to 13th place in the Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders, according to a report published on 20 April 2021.<ref name="dw_20210420">

References[edit]

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