The coronavirus has had the effect of dividing society. Anyone who had doubts about this being the case will now probably have had them dispelled once and for all. The large demonstration held in Berlin on Saturday in protest at government measures to manage the pandemic was the last chance to demonstrate the opposite. And that chance was frivolously squandered by those people who had a short time previously successfully fought for their fundamental right of assembly in court.
This success should have been very welcome to all those who, while not in the least sharing the views of coronavirus deniers, believe in a state based on the rule of law. For the original ban of the demonstration was a slap in the face for all staunch democrats.
Read more: Berlin: Police call off protests against coronavirus curbs
It was an unforgivable error on the part of Berlin's minister of the interior, Andreas Geisel, to confound his completely justified concerns about people who recklessly play down or deny the existence of COVID-19 with issues of political orientation. Even the far-right extremists against whom the Social Democrat politician urgently warned have a right to express their opinion. It was obvious that they would try to misuse the demonstration to push their own agenda. But as long as they adhere to the law, that is something that has to be accepted by a state confident in its legitimate authority.
Massive failure
The strategy used by far-right milieus of all kinds is a very old one. When there is protest against cuts against social services, they present themselves as the champions of ordinary people. In their campaign against migrants, they assume the role of the last defenders of the Western world.
And in the culture war surrounding the coronavirus, they live out their anti-Semitism. That is why the demonstration that has now massively failed in the German capital was a must for such people. A platform like this was an ideal one for them to put their beliefs on show — at best in the guise of a controversial flag like the war flag of Imperial Germany, which is banned only in the Nazi version containing a swastika. Far-right extremists know how far they can go.
Taking to the street in such company to protest at the government's admittedly confusing coronavirus restrictions is an unsavory act. But, fortunately, it is not a forbidden one.
When there are massive and deliberate violations of legal regulations, however, action must be taken. So the police did the right thing in dispersing the demonstration. The state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force and it has to assert it when rules or even laws are being continually ignored. If it did not do so, it would undermine its own authority.
Many losers
And it should do no one that favor, least of all those who, as part of their simplistic world view, consider the state to be weak and superfluous. Such people are very evident amid the very diverse elements that make up such demonstrations. But how strong and influential they really are is a matter for debate. Many of them are particularly loud and sometimes off-putting in their appearance. But they are not a majority.
But ultimately, that is not the issue here. In the end, almost everyone has failed. The Berlin politicians tried to get rid of unwanted coronavirus deniers and far-right extremists by means of a completely unfounded ban that they sought to justify with amateurish arguments. That was an embarrassment.
And now the demonstrators who already left a bad impression at the first Berlin protest against coronavirus curbs have squandered their chance to prove themselves. After this second fiasco, they have lost their last shred of credibility even with those who thought they were capable of learning.
This is all disastrous and does not bode at all well for future societal discourse. It is, however, comforting to know that we can rely on one institution: the justice system. By deciding to overturn the ban on the demonstration without further ado, the Berlin administrative courts provided the only ray of hope in these dark days.