May the left-wing autonomous scene demonstrate on “Day X” in Leipzig or not – this decision will be made in court. The organizers have sued against the ban on their demo.
The organizers of the “Day X” demonstration in Leipzig are legally defending themselves against the city’s ban. An urgent application against the ban was received, said the spokesman for the Leipzig Administrative Court, Dirk Tolkmitt, on Friday. The competent Senate will decide on this later in the day. The police continue to prepare a major operation for Saturday. A so-called control area, which includes large parts of the city area in the east, south and west of Leipzig, will apply from Friday 6:00 p.m. There, the police can stop and check people for no particular reason.
The city of Leipzig had the “Day X” demo planned for Saturday with the motto “United we stand – despite everything, defend autonomous anti-fascism!” banned on Thursday because an unpeaceful course was to be feared. The basis for this are danger forecasts by the police and situation assessments by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In left circles had been mobilized nationwide. Police say there are also threats of violence and calls for militancy.
The “Day X” is a reaction to the conviction of the student Lina E. and the three co-defendants for assaults on alleged or actual neo-Nazis. The quartet was sentenced to several years in prison by the Dresden Higher Regional Court on Wednesday for assault and membership or support of a criminal organization. Lina E., who had been in custody for two and a half years, was provisionally released after the verdict was pronounced.
There was a solo demo for Lina E. on Wednesday evening. It was stopped right at the beginning due to violations of conditions and the clearly excessive number of participants. The situation then briefly escalated. Stones and firecrackers were thrown at police officers.
Call for a “mass cornering”
On Thursday evening, the left-wing member of the state parliament, Juliane Nagel, was arrested by the police for registering a youth demonstration on Children’s Day. Video images of the police action triggered heavy criticism. In the social networks, the police, the Ministry of the Interior and the city of Leipzig are accused of escalating the situation around “Day X”. A police spokesman pointed out that numerous anti-police slogans had been shouted at the youth demonstration.
According to the police, Nagel met with the Leipzig police chief René Demmler and the Saxon interior minister Armin Schuster (CDU) on Friday. In doing so, the police operation on Thursday and the meeting were objectively and critically dealt with. Those involved agreed that before “Day X” there was uncertainty and fears of riots and that de-escalation had to be the order of the day.
In connection with the “Day X” ban, Friday evening in Leipzig also became the focus of attention. In the Connewitz district, a “mass corner” was called for in the evening. Various antifa and anarchy accounts promoted “taking the streets”. Solidarity cannot be banned, the appeals say.
In addition to “Day X”, there are a number of other major events in Leipzig this weekend. It’s a city festival, Herbert Grönemeyer is giving a concert in front of tens of thousands of visitors and on Saturday Lok Leipzig and Chemnitzer FC are playing for the Saxony Cup. A cancellation of this football game was considered, but then discarded.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
