Democrats in Dresden have spoiled the fun of Nazi groups: only 800 members of extreme right groups came to Dresden to stage a mourner's parade, the biggest of a series of parades throughout Europe. And these 800 were prevented from marching. The day was overshadowed by violence.

20,000 people met in Dresden on 19 February 2011 in Dresden for a day of peaceful protest - and it mostly was. The churches organised vigils in the inner city, citizens were dancing at the blockade points. Still, the mood was very different to last year, when a huge street party of civil disobedience was organised all over the city and the Nazi march was completely blocked.

The Police: 'How am I supposed to know what's happening out there?'

The members of the extreme right organisation "Junge Landsmannschaft Ostdeutschland" (JLO) had gone to court for exactly this reason: they felt that they hadn't gotten enough support from the police that time, and they won their case, arguing the police should have more worked more consequently to assert their right to demonstrate. Do do this with appropriate force seemed to have been the premise of the police actions on 19 February. Already at noon water cannons were deployed in temperatures below zero. Videos show demonstrators being shot at, smoke bombs and 'pepper balls' are said to have been used according to eye witnesses reports, this has not been confirmed by the police.

Other videos show a group of neonazis attacking an alternative housing project in the suburb of Löbtau and the police just observing. According to eye witnesses, a neonazi attacked another person on a train with a knife. Comment? False accusation. The local police press officer on the phone: 'I'm out, I can't say anything, please call our press office, I'll give you the number.' The press office: 'I'm in here. How am I supposed to know what's happening out there?' This seems to be part of the police strategy around the day.

The Nazis: "Is that tolerant?"

Even though they were more ready to use force, the police didn't succeed in keeping the counter-demonstrators away from the Nazis. Again and again groups of protesters got close enough to the neonazi march to make their opinions clear. The route of the march wasn't particularly secured, so it seemed like a lucky coincidence that not as many nazis as first announced found their way into the iner city. Officially the numbers were 600 - 500 at the central station and 100 at Nürnberger Platz, later a group from the suburb of Plauen were trying to join - they had been coming into town on busses but didn't manage to join the march in the inner city. At the central station the nazis were mostly standing around, trying to break through [not clear what - were they stopped from marching and by whom? Anke] and murmurs of 'Is this tolerant?' were heard. 200 of them got onto trains to Leipzig to stage a spontaneous demo there, which was forbidden as well. In Plauen, they then ran for a few metres under the 'leadership' of Thomas "Steinar" Wulff, mostly back to their busses.

"Let the people go"

If in the last years the time after the nazi events, when it was likely to meet groups of nazis, was the most dangerous, this year it was different. The 300 counter-demonstrators - of all ages, all colours, and completely non-violent - believe that it was down to them that the nazis were sent packing.
Instead the police kettled peaceful people with convoys and riot gear, taking their details, because they are disturbing the peace. Obviously this is about keeping people kettled in the cold. The surrounding demonstrators were shouting "Eins, zwei, drei, lasst die Leute frei." (let the people go.) Instead the police ranks are closed more tightly. Later the police tried unsuccessfully to include outsiders in the kettle. The situation heats up, around 200 of the kettled in are breaking out, police speeding after them. Those who were too slow were still kettled in hours later in the cold - around 8pm a neighbour tweets 'just brought them a kettle of tea. Had my details taken, this is going to bring repercussions...'

Also, the police stormed the office of the organisation Dresden Nazifrei, without a warrant in writing, according to eyewitnesses breaking open unlocked doors. Three people were arrested there.

Vice-President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Thierse said, when visiting some of the vigils organised by churches 'I have a disturbing feeling that here in Dresden, people are being prevented from protesting against Nazis. It is important to be out on the street today!' He unfortunately was right. The disproportionate behaviour of the police overshadowed a day that could have been a success for democratic culture.

By Simone Rafael
Translation: Anke Holst

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