/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/madsack/BSDDKPNF4VDSZESPO3ZFBX6RFU.jpeg "Silent demos in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and many other cities")
Hamburg / Stuttgart. Thousands of people demonstrated against racism and police violence in several German cities on Saturday. So again in Hamburg. The police spoke of 9,000 participants in the Jungfernstieg, only 525 were allowed because of the corona measures.
It is very close to the site and the police are talking to the organizers, said a police spokeswoman. Another rally was registered for the nearby Rathausmarkt.
The Hamburg police had already declared their solidarity before the demonstrations. “We are by your side!” She tweeted before the rallies started. “Racism must have no place in our society. We work every day so that everyone in Hamburg can feel safe. ”
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The police called on all participants to comply with the requirements such as distance rules and wearing mouth-nose covers. The number of participants is limited due to the Corona crisis. The police said in the tweets that their job was to prosecute crimes and ward off dangers. “If we intervene accordingly, we will do so regardless of a person’s skin color, religion or social status.” For two larger rallies on Saturday at Jungfernstieg and at Rathausmarkt there are exemptions for a total of around 800 demonstrators.
On the previous day, around 4,500 people demonstrated in front of the US consulate on the banks of the Alster in Hamburg against racism and police violence – only 250 had been announced.
Thousands of people take to the streets against racism
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“Silent Demo” on Berlin’s Alexanderplatz
On the Berlin Alexanderplatz According to police, around 15,000 people gathered. The event was largely peaceful, police spokeswoman Anja Dierschke said in the afternoon. This brought far more people than expected from the organizers, who had registered 1,500 participants. The police called for compliance with the corona rules and for using adjacent streets.
Many of the demonstrators were dressed in dark clothes. During a minute’s silence, the demonstrators, including many young people, sat on the floor. It lasted exactly 8 minutes and 46 seconds. A policeman in Minneapolis Floyd pressed his knee to his neck until he lost consciousness and died shortly afterwards.
8000 people at Demo in Frankfurt, 600 in Rostock
Around 8000 people gathered in Frankfurt am Mainto demonstrate. A spokesman for the police said that less than an hour after the rally started, the Römerplatz was already full. Other participants could therefore switch to the nearby Paulsplatz. “So far everything is peaceful,” said the spokesman on Saturday afternoon. The hygiene and mouth protection rules would also be observed.
More than 600 people demonstrated in Rostock. For the organizers, it was not just about the incident in Minneapolis, but also about extreme right-wing violence or everyday racism at the authorities, at work or while shopping. Although the distance rules due to the corona pandemic could not be observed on the small Doberaner Platz, the police did not intervene. “This would amount to a confrontation,” said Rostock police chief Achim Segebarth.
Demo in Düsseldorf: more demonstrators than expected
In Dusseldorf Several thousand people also denounced racism. “We have seen enough and haven’t done anything for too long. It’s time to take action, ”said 23-year-old Sephora Bidiamba. According to the police, 2000 people were previously registered. A police spokesman said there were more demonstrators on the streets than expected.
Although the demo was planned as a quiet march, the calls “No Justice, No Peace” and “Black Lives Matter” could be heard again and again. Cries that keep falling in the protests in the United States. The violent death of African American George Floyd “has made the barrel overflow, but racism is everywhere,” said Bidiamba.
7000 people at the demo in Munich – 200 were admitted
In Magdeburg around 1,500 people took to the streets. After a rally in front of the main station, they moved through the city center to the cathedral square. They had signs and banners with them that said, “Racism has not only been a problem for 1 1/2 weeks”.
In Munich around 7,000 people gathered to demonstrate against racism and police violence. The demonstration at Königsplatz was only approved for 200 participants. “The distance rules are currently not being observed,” said a police spokesman. The head of operations must now decide how to deal with the situation further.
Thousands of demonstrators also in Baden-Württemberg
In Baden-Württemberg, too, several thousand people took to the streets – from Stuttgart about Mannheim to Karlsruhe. More people came to the protests than expected: there were several thousand people on the streets in Mannheim (registered: 650) and Stuttgart (registered: 700), in Karlsruhe the police estimated the number at around 500 (registered: 200) .
“Racism is also active in Germany,” said the organizer of the Stuttgart demo, Nadia Asiamah. Part of the protest is an eight-minute, 46-second silence – the length of time the policeman knelt on Floyd’s neck.
Peaceful demos in Saxony and Lower Saxony
Thousands of people also demonstrated against racism in Saxony. In Dresden gathered around 4000, according to police Leipzig around 700 participants under the motto “Black Lives Matter”. According to the police, both demonstrations were peaceful. Rallies are also planned for Sunday, so it was said in Leipzig.
Several thousand people also took to the streets in Lower Saxony. At the castle in Osnabruck According to the police, around .000 people took part in a silent rally. In Göttingen 1750 people have moved through the city, said a police spokeswoman. Except for some firecrackers fired by demonstrators, there were no incidents. The other rallies were also reportedly peaceful. Further demonstrations were in for the late afternoon Hanover and Brunswick announced.
In several German cities, people had gathered on Saturday for so-called “silent demos”. The rallies are part of the worldwide protests after the death of African American George Floyd during a police operation in Minneapolis. According to the organizer, the name symbolizes the almost nine minutes that the policeman pushed Floyd to the ground and in which the participants want to silently remember him.
Calls for the “Silent Demos” had been published on the Internet. “No to racism” and “Black Lives Matter”, it said there. The demonstrators were asked to appear in black clothes. The intention was to silently and silently (“silent”) remember the death of Floyd during the demonstration.
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