They call them “Monday Demonstrations” like the 1989 demonstrations of the same name.
Dimitra Kyranoudis, Berlin
Tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets yesterday in several cities in eastern Germany to protest peacefully, at least for the time being, about the exorbitant energy costs they have to pay this winter and rising inflation. Only in the state of Thuringia did they demonstrate last night 24,000 citizens in various cities, such as Weimar.
From Saxony to the Baltic Sea
Meanwhile in 30 cities in the state of Saxony-Anhalt the demonstrators numbered around 13,000. In the capital, Magdeburg, the authorities speak of marches in which approximately 3,000 demonstrators took part last night, with a strong presence of executives and members of the populist Alternative for Germany party. In fact, in Magdeburg, the Authority for the Protection of the Constitution monitors the activity of some members of the AfD, speaking of incidents of far-right extremism.
And in the key state for Germany’s energy supply with Russian natural gas, Mecklenburg-Pomerania, more than 11,000 people took to the streets, while they caused a sensation with banners demanding the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on the shores of the Baltic Sea.
Over 5,000 people also demonstrated in cities in the state of Saxony: around 2,500 citizens in Chemnitz and as many in the city of Zwickau.
Symbolically using 1989
Demonstrators in the cities of eastern Germany, however, are calling the new wave of protest “Monday Demonstrations”. This is a reference to the historic, mass demonstrations of East Germans in the former German Democratic Republic in the fall of 1989, shortly before the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
At that time, with a focus on Leipzig and the historic course of Monday, October 9, 1989, they urgently demanded that the citizens obtain more freedoms, but also an end to the corruption and oppression of the East German regime. This time, 32 years later, they are calling for additional relief measures and support from a broad spectrum of German society to deal with the energy crisis, while at the same time loudly criticizing the coalition’s choices.
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I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
