The police have encircled around a thousand demonstrators in Leipzig. Water cannons are ready. Overall, however, the situation has calmed down somewhat, at least temporarily, reports the German Press Agency.
Under the motto "Freedom of assembly also applies in Leipzig", a demonstration with 100 participants on Alexis-Schumann-Platz had been registered. However, around 1000 participants had gathered. After a peaceful start, stones, bottles and an incendiary device flew at police officers. The square was finally cleared by the police.
The city of Leipzig criticized the applicant for the demonstration with the title: "Freedom of assembly also applies in Leipzig". A spokesman for the city said on Saturday: "The registration of this demonstration in the southern suburbs was irresponsible in view of the situation. The applicant must be asked whether he was just naïve or even pursuing a strategy." The applicant was the former state executive spokesman of the Saxon state association of the Greens, Jürgen Kasek.
Nationwide, left-wing circles had been mobilized to protest this Saturday, the so-called "Day X", in Leipzig. The occasion was the verdict against Lina E. and three co-defendants for attacks on alleged or actual neo-Nazis. The 28-year-old left-wing extremist was sentenced on Wednesday by the Higher Regional Court of Dresden to five years and three months in prison for left-wing acts of violence. The so-called "Day X" demo had been banned.
An appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court against the ban on the "Day X" demonstration was unsuccessful. The urgent application with a constitutional complaint had not been accepted for decision with a decision on Saturday and was therefore irrelevant for the court, said a spokesman in Karlsruhe.
Thus, the decisions of the Saxon Higher Administrative Court and the Administrative Court of Leipzig on Friday, according to which the ban is in place, remained in place. The urgent application against the ban was received on Saturday morning in Karlsruhe.
The now disbanded demonstration with the title "Freedom of assembly also applies in Leipzig" was initially permitted. The environmental movement Fridays for Future also held a demonstration in the afternoon from Bayerischer Platz to the Natural History Museum. Another gathering under the slogan "Freedom for all political prisoners", on the other hand, had also been banned by the city.
Already on Friday evening, masked police officers had attacked. After the initially peaceful course of a meeting at Wiedebachplatz in the Connewitz district, stones were thrown from a crowd of up to 700 masked people and pyrotechnics were ignited.
17 police vehicles were damaged. Eight vehicles had been set on fire, including cars belonging to local residents, it said. At a bank branch, damage was caused "in the high five-digit sum", as the police announced. Among other things, it is being investigated for serious breach of the peace. According to the information, five suspects were arrested, three people were taken into custody.