Protest Report

On the 1^st of august 2020 thousands of people protested in the city of berlin Germany. Over the year there has been a lot of demonstrations all over the country. In cities such as berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Konstanz, Leipzig, Bremen and other smaller cities. Thousands of people protested and marched. Mainstream media reported 30 thousand people attended the 1^st of august 2020 protest in berlin, however people at the event report there was a significant amount of more people. These protests were sparked by governments choices regarding vaccinations, lockdowns and restrictions placed upon them in the Covid 19 pandemic.

Many people have voiced their opinion. leading the government to put tighter restrictions and measures in place. The German constitution or “basic law” have a law called “the freedom of assembly”. This states that every German has a right to protest in public however they must obtain a permit 48 hours before announcing the event and banned political parties or groups may not protest. This is if they are declared “unconstitutional” by the German constitutional court.

On 1^st of august 2021 protester gathered in berlin. One year after a very large-scale protest happened for the same cause. This year was different with laws in place which got protests banned. Groups with headlines “year of freedom of piece” and “free life free love” got banned for protesting. This made it difficult for protesters to voice their opinion. People still found ways around this leading to clash with the police. The police used pepper spray, truncheons and water tanks with armoured vehicles to separate the crowd. The police arrested several people. Reports say around 600 people have been detained by police. protesters were generally peaceful since the event got banned thousand still turned up to rally. A 49-year-old man who was attending with his son sadly died with reports saying, “man dies after being detained by police”.

Many of the protester are from the movement Querdenker or “lateral thinker”. It is an activist group protesting their rights and freedom against the Covid 19 lockdowns and laws. This is one of the largest “anti-vax” (as the mainstream media put it) groups in Germany have organized many demonstrations all around Germany over the year. The government putting this movement under observation from the intelligence chiefs of Germany. 

Querdenker and other similar groups are continuing to fight for their cause in Germany. Police and government officials continue to try to oppress their cause. This will lead to more clashes with police in the future and the nature of protesting will change in the way people will be able to demonstrate their cause.