Ten demonstrations with 3,500 people, a bicycle parade against neo-Nazis and a car convoy against corona rules paralyzed the city on Saturday. In the late afternoon, over 40,000 football fans crowd towards the stadium for the RB game against Dortmund.
The result: Leipzig is demo-tight between 1 p.m. and 10 p.m.! So if you don’t have to go into the city, you’d better stay at home.
The police have been fencing in the demo areas for days and have requested reinforcements from seven federal states as well as the federal police. Well over 1000 police officers will be on duty, as well as helicopters, water cannons, the cavalry …
The hotspot is Augustusplatz! On the opera side, the right-wing “Leipzig Movement” is expecting 1000 Corona critics, opposite – in front of the Gewandhaus – calling for “Leipzig takes a seat” and the DGB with 1000 predominantly left-wing participants to counter protest.
Admission controls are intended to prevent more than the approved 1000 participants from coming to the square. And unlike a year ago, the police will take tough action: At that time, the lateral thinker demo got out of hand after right-wing extremists simply overran the police chains.
Since there is currently no mask requirement in public places, the city calls for common sense. A spokesman: “In view of the rapidly increasing numbers of infections, we recommend observing the minimum distance and wearing a mouth and nose cover!”
In order to have freedom of movement on the streets, the police turn to the 40,000 expected visitors to the football game. “Arrive in good time,” asks police spokesman Olaf Hoppe. “Inquire regularly about the current situation – and it is best to use local public transport.
