It was supposed to be the start of a “hot autumn” that might end in a “winter of anger” – because of the energy prices and because many German citizens feel they are being tamed in the wrong places by the state and left alone in others.
Right-wing and left-wing demonstrators heralded a “hot autumn” in Leipzig on Monday to protest against the federal government’s social policy and high energy prices.
“This is the Saxony police speaking. Please note: Attacks on members of the press are criminal offences.” It’s 6:30 p.m. in Leipzig on Monday evening, the “hot autumn” doesn’t really start for another half an hour, and the first casualties are already there – a journalist from the left-wing camp was kicked. It’s going well. The Augustusplatz between the Opera and the Gewandhaus only fills up slowly. In front of the opera, the Left Party wants to hold a rally with 4,000 people at 7 p.m. and then a demonstration through the city. Supporters of the right-wing extremist splinter party “Free Saxony” gather opposite. Each side calls the other fascist.
And yet there are similarities. “No arms deliveries”, “stop sanctions” and “peace negotiations”, that’s what both want. Only the right wants to open Nord Stream 2, the left doesn’t, with one prominent exception that we’ll get to in a moment. The “Freie Sachsen” in front of the Gewandhaus had only registered ten participants, but certainly far more than a thousand came. “Of course they knew that,” says one, “but they wouldn’t have gotten this location with that size.”
At 6.40 p.m. it is the turn of Jürgen Elsässer, a well-known right-wing extremist who used to be a left-wing extremist. He is a publicist and publishes the “Compact Magazine”, which the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as “safe right-wing extremist”.
Approach from the right
Elsässer uses the location and immediately gets in touch with the other side in his speech: “It’s no longer about ideology, it’s about the bare survival of our economy, for our people, for each individual, we have to stand together,” he exclaims the left to. Those over there are the better part of the left, Comrade Pellmann at least has the needs of the little man in mind and not, like the majority of his party, sexual minorities and Winnetou.
Jürgen Elsässer, founder and editor-in-chief of the “Compact Magazin”, which has been classified as “safe right-wing extremist” by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, on Monday in front of the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
Sören Pellmann is a directly elected member of the Bundestag for the left here in Leipzig; he had organized the demo. He was criticized for calling it a “Monday demonstration”, because the term stands for the peaceful revolution in the GDR in 1989, which was directed against the SED and thus against the predecessor party of the Left.
Steffen Ankert has no understanding for this accusation. “I took to the streets in 1989 at the Monday demonstrations for my freedom, and now I’m doing it again,” says the 57-year-old from Leipzig: “The Saxon is a freedom-loving person and doesn’t want to be tamed by the state.” Ankert walks around the city ring road every Monday with the opponents of vaccination from the “Leipzig Movement”; It doesn’t bother him that the “Free Saxony” joined the “Leipzig Movement” that evening. The organizer of the alliance has already said goodbye, she wants to keep the “movement” neutral and not in a crowd with the right-wing extremists and their flags.
Elsässer now shouts that it was a mistake on the left to unload “Comrade Wagenknecht” and gets applause from both camps; he even encourages his listeners to say “Sahra! Sarah!» to chant. Because the most prominent MP on the left wanted the only right thing: “Open Nord Stream 2!” Are the ends of the horseshoe touching here? That was what many had feared beforehand: a “transverse front” based on the Weimar model. If the rights have their way, it’s at least worth a try. In any case, the two camps have more in common. Anger at the state, a feeling of being left behind, the fear of falling down despite the greatest effort.
They differ widely on issues such as “diversity”, sexual minorities and migration, but they are unanimous in their rejection of the German state in its current state. The Social Democratic Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has made the “lateral thinkers” a new observation category of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as “anti-constitutional delegitimizers of the state”. These supporters attract from all political camps.
In addition, many camp-independent see it the other way around: a state that does not put its citizens first, that keeps feeding them “relief packages” that they see as mockery, and that courts other countries and their people, such a one At some point, the state delegitimizes itself because it is no longer supported by the people.
“We have nothing to do with this right bastard”
The left is now also talking. Everyone is waiting for Gregor Gysi, but first it is the turn of the co-chair of the parliamentary group, Amira Mohamed Ali, then the new co-party leader Martin Schirdewan, then several young people, including a student of Vietnamese origin who speaks about poverty and racism . He is the son of Vietnamese contract workers who were recruited by the GDR.
All of the speakers resist the right-wing attempts to flirt, clearly distancing themselves. The organizers of the Left Party demo had already announced that they wanted to exclude “racists, nationalists and lateral thinkers” from their event. However, that would not have been feasible, despite the police barriers. It was also a topic in the cooperation talks between the left and the city of Leipzig. The regulatory office said that open-air meetings could be attended by everyone, as long as they were not “grossly disturbing”.
Gregor Gysi opens his short speech by saying that he has heard that there should also be right-wing voters here. “I would like to say the following to them: They must understand that nationalism, xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism have only caused the greatest damage to countless peoples.” He says to anyone who has no sense left: “We have nothing to do with this right bastard, they are unbearable and unacceptable.” After that, he also talks about social policy.
Gregor Gysi is the best-known politician in the Left Party, along with Sahra Wagenknecht, who was not allowed to speak on Monday.
After the speeches, the demonstration marches start moving, but the right-wingers don’t get far because the Antifa have set up a sit-in at the intersection, making it impassable; the blockers are not carried away by the police. The right are frustrated and turn around.
The situation as a whole is confusing. Seven demos were registered, in addition to the Left Party and the “Free Saxony” also the “lateral thinkers”, “Leipzig takes place”, the communist “Rote Wende”, Antifa and AfD supporters. There really wasn’t a need for the police barriers, since everything was getting mixed up anyway. Visually too – there were perfectly normal-looking people to be seen, apart from the black block on the left and the men’s odd preference for cargo three-quarter trousers on the right.
The Left Party was able to mobilize around 4,000 people on Augustusplatz. Behind the tram at the top of the picture, on the other side of the square, the right-wingers gathered.
Just a hint of riot
Around 9 p.m., right and left meet again on Augustusplatz, because now the left are back from their demonstration. After all meetings are dissolved and ended, there is a hint of riot in the air. It wouldn’t be the first time that it only really banged after the official end. You can see many police officers walking towards the city center. But then it stays calm. “Many are already on the train home,” says a federal police officer. Numerous demo participants had traveled extra.
This is confirmed by Fritz N., an entrepreneur from Weinheim in Baden-Württemberg. He rattles off. “I came here because this country now has significant democratic deficits,” he says. The separation of powers is in danger if the Federal Constitutional Court can no longer be relied on. He is also critical of the issue of refugees: one should be happy to take in real refugees, i.e. those who are politically persecuted, but not indiscriminately everyone who only wants to immigrate to the social system here. The “lateral thinking” movement was classified as right-wing, although they only exercise their democratic rights. In connection with German unity, they promised not to expand NATO to the east, and they did it anyway. No wonder Putin feels threatened.
And that with gender is also such nonsense. It is clear that women have equal rights. And then there’s the issue of gender – he recently lost a job because he said there were only two genders. “You’re on the right with that today,” says a woman. “Left-wing fascism” is that. Other participants express similar views. It’s not blunt rabble, here citizens name grievances in a way that may not get enough attention from politicians. And maybe something is brewing.
The right does not manage to create a transverse front this Monday. Nevertheless, the whole thing is a success for them, because the mobilization of the left has also benefited the right; a lot more came than usual. In addition, it has been shown who is no longer afraid of contact with the right. It also resonates that the measure is full. The issues of energy costs, social policy and the Ukraine war will remain. There were demonstrations in Germany on Monday in many places. Even if the start of autumn was not “hot”, increases are to be feared. It will continue in Berlin on October 8th.
