A corona demonstration was to take place in Neustadt an der Waldnaab in the Upper Palatinate on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in front of the town hall.

There were precise instructions for the participants.

"You are," the email said, "a group of protesting people who responded to a call from the mayor not to participate in corona denier demos and who have rallied to Monday demos in front of City Hall for five weeks.

Clothing should be designed to be outside for 1-2 hours.

Feel free to pack something warm to drink yourself.

#Clothes not too conspicuous (fine coat, glittering down jacket, extreme make-up (whereby the faces are mostly not shown).”

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for feuilleton online and "media".

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The relevant information that went through the Internet at the weekend did not come from the Corona denier front, but, as can be seen from the mail, from the production company "Spiegel TV", which was commissioned by ZDF for the series "Terra Xpress". makes a contribution. At first glance it looked as if paid demonstrators were hired here, but at second glance it turns out that extras are wanted for a mock demonstration, for a fee of eighty euros per person.

There are enough Corona marches, the "Monday walks" of the "lateral thinkers", demonstrations of power by Antifa and civil protest against the radical protest. Do you still need reenacted scenes? Yes, says the company "Spiegel TV" in a statement. Because the "Terra Xpress" series should deal with the topic of civil courage and the case of the mayor of Neustadt an der Waldnaab, Sebastian Dippold, who positioned himself in a video against the "lateral thinker" scene in October 2020 and then violently exposed to hostilities. In fact, Dippold had spoken out clearly. On the occasion of a demonstration in neighboring Weiden, the SPD politician spoke of "monkeys", "gesocks" and "Nazis" in a Facebook video. He had subsequently received a death threat and had to take security measures. Til today,he told Bayerischer Rundfunk at the turn of the year that he had a "permanent supervisor at state security".

The content of "Terra Xpress" provides, writes "Spiegel TV", "that occasionally scenes that address certain issues from the past are modeled in a short sequence as an example". These scenes would be "clearly marked as 'reenacted'" on the show. In the specific case, “it should be reenacted how corona deniers demonstrate in front of the Neustadt town hall in protest against the attitude of the mayor”. The content of the scene is based on testimonies and a police report. The scene was to be occupied by extras via an agency and later reported as "reenacted" in the program. The fee for the extras is customary in the industry,Of course, one pays "no expense allowance for participation in real demonstrations" and was not commissioned by ZDF to ensure that the reenacted scene was recognizable as such, one reported "always independently" and acted "according to strict journalistic standards". In view of the current situation, the FAZ said that the shooting planned for Tuesday would not take place.