Am 25. April a rally against the current restrictions on public life due to the corona pandemic took place on Kassel's Bebelplatz. The assembly in Kassel is part of the “Not without us!“-Initiative, which calls for protests nationwide. The call on the occasion of the rather controversial topic were around this weekend 100 People followed. Including Manfred Mattis, the former spokesman for the AfD Kassel-Stadt and its direct candidate for the Hessian state election 2018.
Manfred Mattis as speaker and steward (Photo: Michael Lacher)
That Mattis was the steward and giving a speech, caused a lot of irritation and has been a topic of conversation in the district for days. When asked, Heike Nehring explained, the organizer of the rally in Kassel, that members of the AfD were "neither involved in the preparation nor in the implementation of the meeting". I'm sorry, that they “to the Lord, who later revealed himself as an AfD member in a verbal contribution, have given a binder ". So there can be no talk of a planned collaboration with the AfD.
I'm sorry, that they “to the Lord, who later revealed himself as an AfD member in a verbal contribution, I gave a binder. "
Even so, the openly fascist party is not involved in the rally organization, the rally also attracted people with absurd views. For example, a rally participant presented a self-made sign, which showed the archway of the Auschwitz extermination camp with the inscription "Vaccination Makes You Free". Even this relativization of the Holocaust was apparently no reason, to be expelled from the rally.
Rally attendees with placard, “Vaccination makes you free” (Photo: Michael Lacher)
Nehring has already announced the next protest rally on Bebelplatz for next Saturday. That a well-known AfD member can appear there again, is unlikely according to their information. Whether other conspiracy theorists and delusional anti-vaccination opponents are still present there and will be tolerated, remains to be seen.
To leave the political discourse about the nationwide suspension of freedom of assembly and other basic rights to this spectrum, however, shouldn't be a concern to anyone.