The 'Walks'

 Ever since mid-November.....there's been fairly harsh Covid ban rules in place, and it's drawn the ire of the public to some degree.  It's hard not to find a German who has at least grumbled about the effect on their lives, or the amount of stress that the ban rules bring.  

I would estimate that more than three-quarters of the general public shake their head over ban rules and enforcement activity.  They may not be angry, but their patience is less than it was twelve months ago. 

N-TV had a brief discussion over this in the AM.  They briefly talked over demonstrations which have recently started up.  

The trend?  Germans gather up on a Monday night, and 'walk' through highly urbanized areas of Germany. I will admit.....doing this in the mid-winter period is a challenge.

From the police estimate of last night?  Numbers reported around the nation are about 35k....more or less.

Non-violent?  Well....I would suggest that 99-percent of this goes that way.  However, like last night....over in Lichtenstein (about a 30 min drive south of Stuttgart)....things got out of hand, where the ambulance crews were trying to help some folks, and police got in the middle of things, and the 'walk' escalated into a riot.

Are these 'walks' registered as a official demonstration?  Some are....the rest are not registered and not approved by the city officials.  Those are the ones which draw police attention.  

Getting more intense and reactionary?  There's a fair amount of pressure by the city officials on the police to 'control' events or prevent them.  The cops?  I suspect if you asked them....this is pretty crazy.  In some locations, you could be talking about freezing temperatures or just above freezing with rain falling.  It's crappy job requirements to be out on the street for three hours to at least pretend you are curtailing the crowd.

What would happen if the police just did regular duty and not messed with the crowds?  It might be worth asking.

As for this building up?  I'd say over the past three weeks....it has probably doubled in size around the nation.  

This changing in about eight weeks?  Well....as warmer weather arrives in March....the ban rules will get trimmed back, and the intensity of the 'walks' will evolve to a lesser degree.  The question is....just how bad will things be in four to six week....while we wait?