Pegida rally, March 21, 2016
Neo-nazis from the militant terrorist group III. Weg arrived with a banner on the counter-demonstration side, intent on walking it towards the demonstrators and creating an escalation. It appears the terror group was monitoring the scene and specifically chose this route due to lack of a police presence and police checkpoints along the way. Two convicted neo-nazi terrorists were among the group.
In order to prevent a clash, one citizen stopped them and said "you shall not pass" (in German). III. Weg continued to push through the citizen and nearly met with another line of citizens.
The police arrived late after III. Weg already began attacking the citizen, and their response was against him, not against III. Weg, despite the fact that had he not been there, III. Weg would potentially have started a violent clash. Also evidenced in the photos was a riot cop who pointed (but did not discharge) a large can of pepper spray at the citizens of Munich who were peaceful and doing the job of the police in preventing an outbreak of violence. This is also despite the fact that the III. Weg terrorists grabbed and attacked him first.
Not only was civil courage (ger: Zivilcourage) on display in citizens doing the duty of the police to prevent yet another attack on the public by this militant neo-nazi terrorist group, but also displayed is the ongoing asymmetrical behavior by the Munich police against the citizens of their own city.
'Civil courage' may be a term that seems over-dramatic for those who don't live in Germany, but a large criticism I have, as do many citizens, is that people here are too passive and there exists, on the other side, massive societal and social pressures exerted to make people not get involved in order to uphold the status quo, even if the long-term consequences of such behavior are disasterous and documented in European history.
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| Crop of photo above; officer has a large can of pepper spray pointed at citizens. Also displays that the bulk of the response was directed at their fellow community. |
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| PK of the Hooligan group Brigade Giesing points and laughs at the citizens because the police response was 100% directed at them- further incentivizing such actions by the radical right. Why attack people yourself when you can troll the cops into doing it for you? |
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Convicted neo-nazi terrorist Karl-Heinz Statzberger looking directly at the camera. Also in the group was convicted terrorist Thomas Schatt.
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| Peter Meidl of Rosenheim, was convicted on this very morning in one of numerous active processes involving such crimes as incitement of the masses and Holocaust Denial. In the series below, Meidl was chastized by others who are associated with the neo-nazi spectrum (die Rechte, NPD, III. Weg) for being too flamboyant and drawing too much attention to himself. He was subsequently ejected from the rally. |
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| Meidl then removed his Black Sun necklace after indicating to the journalists that he will expose it in order to be photographed with it. The Black Sun is from Norse mythology and used by neo-nazis to indicate their affiliation with the scene. |
Footage by colleague "089 Reporter". One may see how asymmetrical the police response was- 100% directed at citizens trying to prevent a violent escalation by putting themselves in between a violent, militant, neo-nazi terror group and fellow citizens of the city.
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| Pegida marching through Tal, a portion of the city center between Marienplatz and Isar Tor. Just beyond, at Isar Tor, was a blockade by citizens of the city to prevent Pegida from passing. Due to this, Pegida had to turn around. |
