Sunday April 4th 2021
Scandal at the lateral thinker protest
Stuttgart defends renouncing the ban on demonstrations
The controversial demonstration by lateral thinkers in Stuttgart continues to stir emotions in the southwest of the republic. According to allegations by the state government, the city is going on the offensive: There was no basis for a ban on protest in advance.
Stuttgart’s Lord Mayor Frank Nopper condemned the appearance of so-called lateral thinkers at their demonstration on Saturday “in the strongest possible way”. “The city intends to punish the illegal behavior with fines and to ban future events by the same applicants due to yesterday’s violation of the conditions,” said the CDU politician. He particularly criticized attacks on journalists by demonstrators and the disregard of corona protective measures and other requirements.
However, the city again defended the waiver of a ban on gatherings. “On the basis of the registrations, the city and the police felt that the prerequisites for a ban on demonstrations were not met,” said Mayor of the Order, Clemens Maier. However, the events on Saturday should be dealt with together with the state government in the coming days.
The state government had criticized the approach of the Stuttgart authorities. “How should we explain to the population that only five people from two households are allowed to meet at Easter while thousands of demonstrators march through the city without mask and minimum distance,” said Manfred Lucha from the Greens, according to SWR from the State Ministry of Social Affairs.
Around 15,000 people walked through the city center on Saturday, mostly without covering their mouth and nose or observing distance rules. From their ranks, stones were thrown at journalists and a SWR television team was attacked. A 37-year-old man who allegedly hit a journalist was arrested because of the incident.
“Police are obviously twiddling their thumbs”
The ARD had also strongly condemned the incident and demanded clarification from the police. Journalists were victims of violence “and the Stuttgart police are obviously twiddling their thumbs,” said the German Association of Journalists (DJV) Twitter. The chairman of the association, Frank Überall, called for more protection for the freedom of reporting.
The police are accused of failing to intervene against violations of the law by demonstrators. There was also a picture of a police officer shaking hands with a lateral thinker folder on the Internet. The Stuttgart police announced that a meeting participant had taken the hand of the official and held it up, a statement which, in view of the video images on the Internet, again aroused malice and criticism.
The FDP internal politician Konstantin Kuhle called it in Berlin “incomprehensible why the police in Stuttgart did not consistently enforce corona conditions”. He also condemned the attacks on journalists.
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