To paraphrase the famous slogan of Berlin's Loveparade - "Peace, joy and pancakes" - we can say that on Saturday Berlin took to the streets under the new flag - "Revolution, anger and no pancakes!"
Is the Berlin demonstration an anarchy in the country or a consequence of the psychological fatigue of society? Fatigue from the consequences of the coronavirus, more precisely, from antiquity measures, the fall of the economy, from the impotence of power structures. Any answer will be correct. In Germany, there has really been a situation where a number of negative factors are beginning to shape public opinion. On Saturday, a demonstration was on the agenda, declared as a protest against antiquity measures.
The capital of Germany is no stranger to demonstrations. This tradition is many years old, and it is demonstrated here on various occasions - for the environment, against nuclear energy, for world peace. The most popular slogan used in the past at the famous love parade in Berlin is "Peace, joy and pancakes." But last weekend in Berlin there was definitely no time for pancakes. The organizers planned to bring up to a million participants to the streets of the capital, in fact, there were much fewer of them. The police say about 20 thousand, the organizers insist that there were about 800 thousand.
Demonstrated 20 thousand people or 1 million? The real result is about 50 wounded police officers, several detainees and no result in terms of achieving the set goals. At least, this is the opinion of the German press, which argues only about the number of demonstrators, forgetting to mention the most distinctive feature of the Saturday march. Indeed, for the first time in many decades, representatives of practically opposing public structures came out at the same time: the Alternative for Germany party, the LGBT community, environmentalists, the left and even anarchists. And if by the end of the day they dispersed in order to, if possible, collide during the street riots, then at the beginning their flags stood side by side and they walked along the street on June 17 shoulder to shoulder.
What united such diverse social groups?
The largest group of demonstrators was represented by the so-called anti-antiquity movement. These are exactly the people who united in their desire to prove that the coronavirus practically does not exist, and the government's measures are nothing more than an attempt to impose dictatorship in all spheres of the country's life. The participants in this demonstration rightly considered that many measures to isolate and change the economic and democratic principles of the country's life exceeded all accepted democratic norms. They called it a dictatorship and categorically demand that all restrictions be lifted.
In Germany, the supporters of this theory are considered to be lovers of conspiracy theory, people who deny the obvious and in everything they see someone's evil intent.
However, there are already so many such people that even the Berlin Senate did not dare to take away their right to express their own opinion. In the context of the coronavirus, when there are still restrictions on various meetings, on visiting stadiums, the Senate suddenly allowed the demonstration, thus giving another reason to talk about the virtuality of the coronavirus danger. The demonstrators say: if the Senate allowed the demonstration, despite the current measures, then we are being deceived and there is no danger?
True, the city authorities came to their senses at the last moment and by mid-Saturday the demonstration was banned. By this time, people gathered, including on the green lawn in front of the Reichstag. According to the police, about 3 thousand people with flags and banners were located in front of the central entrance to the building. The police demanded to disperse, but, as always in such cases, the demonstrators refused. Bundestag deputy Hansjörg Müller said on his Telegram channel at about 2 pm on Saturday that there are about 800 thousand people on the streets of Berlin, the police are dispersing the demonstration, but people are determined to go to the end. Subsequent police information did not confirm the number of participants, but, according to observers, about 100 thousand people were still on the streets of Berlin.
What goals did the demonstrators achieve, where and where did they reach the end? It seems that no real goals have been achieved. It was not always possible to disperse the demonstration peacefully; in some parts of the city, stones and empty bottles were thrown at the police. However, it would be an exaggeration to say that there were local battles between police and demonstrators in Berlin. Yes, the police did not stand on ceremony, but there were reasons for that: resistance to the authorities in Germany is suppressed harshly, sometimes brutally.
After three o'clock in the afternoon, the demonstration split into streams of interest, which were ready to conflict with each other. Right with left, ecologists with antiquities. Dunya Hayali, a leading journalist for the ZDF television channel, almost fell victim to the hooligans. When she and the videographer appeared in the crowd, aggressive participants surrounded her and, shouting "False Press", tried to take away her smartphone and the cameraman from her. The situation escalated to such an extent that she had to immediately and with great difficulty get out of the crowd, which she already wrote about on her Twitter.
The main conclusion that can be drawn from the Saturday procession in Berlin is quite simple. The dissatisfied society is ready to unite for a short time, despite its differences, and stand in solidarity against the authorities. However, the authorities, for their part, are not ready to endure aggression and will certainly not distribute pancakes to aggressive demonstrators. At least in Berlin.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.