Monday, January 11, 2021
Store opening despite lockdown?
"Lateral thinkers" are also behind the protest
By Juliane Kipper
The push by a cosmetics studio owner to reopen the shops despite existing Corona measures has been postponed for the time being. But who is actually behind the initiative? While the initiator claims that he is apolitical, there are some arguments in favor of a connection to the "lateral thinkers".
The frustration of retailers and restaurateurs is great. So big that some even wanted to open their shops today in protest despite the ban. Since the beginning of the year, almost 60,000 people have come together in a Telegram group. They planned the protest under the motto "We open up". But shortly before it should start, the initiator Macit Uzbay, who runs a beauty salon in Krefeld, postponed the campaign for a week. Today should only be used for a photo campaign.
On Telegram at the weekend he announced in a voice message that he was not backing down, but wanted to "completely secure" the campaign. He doesn't want anyone to be harmed. One must first clarify the legal basis more precisely and act with caution. His goal is not to "just open up at random". You have to give the government a deadline of seven days, says Uzbay. He has now announced this deadline in a letter. Accordingly, the government now has a week to end the lockdown. If that doesn't happen, he wants to open in a week.
The action makes the desperation of many companies clear, according to the trade association HDE, but the effective and fast fight against the pandemic is the top priority. From the German Hotel and Restaurant Association it is said: "With all due understanding for the maximum frustration, displeasure and growing despair, we appeal to the entrepreneurs not to open the restaurants and not to violate the law."
The initiator wants to be "neither right nor left"
Because: If you open your shop despite lockdown, you risk high fines and possibly even jail sentences for violating the Infection Protection Act, and you may be threatened with the withdrawal of your business license. Some operators were ready to take this risk – they also included restaurateur Hans Becker. In a Facebook post, Becker had advertised the initiative and announced that he wanted to open his bistro on Tegernsee this Monday. "I just want to send a signal that the political measures are not proportionate. They destroy the gastronomy," he said of his participation. The fact that his bistro doesn't open today has nothing to do with the postponement, but rather with the fact that the "lateral thinker" scene wants to use the platform – Becker wants to distance himself clearly from it. "For God's sake no imperial flags in front of my cafe!".
Initiator Uzbay claims for himself that he is "neither right nor left". The beauty salon owner says that he has implemented everything that was expected, is at the end of his existence and is fed up. In the Telegram group, he claims, "This is neither about 'lateral thinking' nor any other movements, sides, channels".
However: Just a few days ago Uzbay appeared on the youtube channel of the well-known "lateral thinker" Samuel Eckert – and this is no exception. According to research by the editorial network in Germany, the cosmetics studio owner is said to have appeared at a "lateral thinker" demonstration in Krefeld in August 2020. There he is said to have denied the existence of the coronavirus and alleged that the statistics of deaths in Germany were falsified.
In another Telegram group he founded, he is also said to have complained about the mask requirement in shops and shared conspiracy myths. On the "Coronapedia" website, which he founded, the forum is not just about organizing the day of action, but participants also advertise the use of chlorine bleach. Chlorine dioxide is traded in the orbit of the "lateral thinkers" as a cure against Covid-19. However, the World Health Organization WH0 warns against consuming bleach or other disinfectants.
Postponement of dates causes displeasure
In the meantime, countless other channels have formed in addition to the original Telegram group, some of them not only sharing conspiracy myths, but also clearly right-wing content. Uzbay knows these groups. Although he emphasizes that he has no connection with any of them, he is nevertheless happy about "positively directed support".
The postponement of the date caused displeasure in other groups. Uzbay is accused of disregarding the participants without agreeing his plans with them. "With this unauthorized action he undermined the entire project and opened all doors for the government to prepare," it says.
An internal chat vote started on January 5th, however, reveals that only a fraction of the group members had announced that they would open their shops for today. A clear majority of 82 percent even stated that they had no business at all and only supported the initiative. This tendency is also confirmed by our own random sample: Many chat members contacted by ntv.de stated that they were either only in the group out of interest or because they liked the idea. In some cases a formulated catalog of questions, which also dealt with the proximity to the "lateral thinker" scene, went unanswered because one "is not available for government-compliant news reporting".
.