"Frankfurt Declaration": Broad alliance against lateral thinkers

In a “Frankfurt Declaration”, a broad alliance of politicians, church representatives and artists calls for people not to take part in the demonstrations by corona deniers.

In Frankfurt there are currently rallies by critics of the pandemic policy almost every day.

The signers of the “Frankfurt Declaration” accuse the “lateral thinker” and “walker” movement of “using corona policy and criticism of it as a vehicle to spread crude conspiracy myths, hatred and hate speech”.

Alexander Juergs

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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It is also condemned that right-wing extremists and enemies of the constitution took part in the protests and that there were anti-Semitic statements, Holocaust denial and downplaying.

"This is intolerable and contradicts our basic democratic consensus," write the authors of the petition.

"Anyone who continues to take part in these demonstrations should be aware of who he or she is demonstrating with."

The call was initiated by the members of the state parliament Turgut Yüksel (SPD) and Martina Feldmayer (Die Grünen) together with Julia Frank, the spokeswoman for the Frankfurt Greens district association, Mike Josef, the chairman of the Frankfurt SPD, and Philipp Jacks, the chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation in Frankfurt , and Thomas Kaspar, the editor-in-chief of the “Frankfurter Rundschau”.

support from all sides

Among the first to sign were Achim Knecht, the city dean of the Evangelical Church in Frankfurt and Offenbach, the Catholic city dean Johannes zu Eltz and the board of directors of the Jewish community.

The Hessian Minister of Finance Michael Boddenberg (CDU) supports the petition, as does the left-wing politician Ulrich Wilken and the Frankfurt FDP chairman Thorsten Lieb.

The appeal was also signed by business representatives such as Fraport board member Michael Müller and Friedrich Avenarius, the Rhein-Main managing director of the Association of Hessian Entrepreneurs.

With Petra Roth (CDU) and Andreas von Schoeler (SPD), two former Frankfurt mayors have joined the initiative.

"Frankfurt is a cosmopolitan city and should remain so," claim the signatories of the "Frankfurt Declaration".

In their appeal, they point out that it is legitimate to protest against the Corona rules and that a social discourse on pandemic policy is important.

But they accuse the “walkers” and “lateral thinkers” of spreading the image that Germany is a dictatorship.

Instead of taking part in the protests, where such false information would be spread, one should strengthen “the people who are there for us on a voluntary basis and in a wide variety of professions”.

The full wording of the appeal can be found on the Internet at

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The appeal can also be signed there.