Germany: Coronavirus deniers approach the far right

The Service for the Protection of the Constitution warns of radicalization and extreme right-wing displacement of coronavirus negatives. The key role of the internet.

About 5,000 people protested last night in central Munich against the mandatory vaccination. Although the demonstration had previously been banned and security measures were not observed, the police did not disperse it. Observers talk about chaotic scenes. Eleven arrests were made in connection with attacks on police officers and the use of symbols of banned far-right organizations.

Protesters chanted slogans such as “peace”, “freedom”, “no dictatorship” and “resistance”. Similar demonstrations have been taking place for weeks on a daily basis throughout Germany. The participants are coronavirus negative, people who disagree with the imposition of compulsory vaccination, but also extreme right-wingers.

Far right shift

In a recent analysis, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the State of Lower Saxony concludes that while initially these different tendencies coexisted in mobilizations against restrictive measures, lately there has been a shift of the whole movement to the right, an ideological approach the far right and a radicalization.

According to the German secret service operating inside the country, social networks and messaging services, especially the Telegram, play a key role in this process of rapprochement and radicalization. In messages, the coronavists deny calling for a struggle against the democratic regime and inciting violence.

Panagiotis Kouparanis, Berlin

Source: Deutsche Welle