It was supposed to be one of the largest mobilizations of far-right scumbags in the region for quite a while. By Saturday, 20 June 2015, the ‘Resistance East / West’ called for a demonstration in the city centre of Frankfurt in order to “unite all patriots” agitating well-known recipients of their racist message. The organizers Ester Seitz and Michael Stürzenberger are well-known from their Pegida-offshoot in Bavaria (Bagida) planned to gather at Rossmarkt, Frankfurt’s central square. Especially neo-Nazi hooligans from different areas of southern Germany but also those from Erfurt, Leipzig and Berlin responded. All together, the crude mass did not exceed 180 participants.
The venue is well-known to antifascists from Frankfurt. For weeks the likeminded Pegida offshoot and the split off “free citizens for Germany” organized rallies repeatedly around here. The cops always cordoned widely the area so that this racist speech could be disseminated undisturbed. To prevent this scenario, this Saturdays actions aimed to thwart the passage of right-wingers. Hundreds of people gathered from the morning to reach the venue and occupy the route of the planned march that finally did not happen. In a first try to reach the demonstration route, the cops brutally attacked antifascists stealing various banners and using battons and pepper spray. The protest de-centralized afterwards so that each access was blocked. In the area around the train station several militant antifascists awaited the neo-Nazi hooligans. Scuffles broke out repeatedly and at least a dozen experienced physically that they would be better off at home.
Provocations repeatedly by the cops triggered offensive responses by antifascists. Exemplary for Frankfurt police tactics, they kettled arbitrarily around 150 antifascists, arresting severals and checking all IDs. Such smaller scale police operations happened several times. Lately, since the militant protests against the ECB, they are fiercely investigating antagonist structures. The legal aid team counted 23 antifascists detained.
The gathering was finally not stopped entirely but a good number of participants will think twice to join such nationalist gatherings. Despite largest efforts in their mobilization, fascists could not gain ground on the streets of Frankfurt. On the other hand, 1000 cops used the occasion to settle old scores. They even denied medical attendance to one badly injured woman.
Once again antifascists ousted militant Nazis, bourgeois racist agitators and police brutality on the streets of Frankfurt. No matter what disguise, fascists have no chance in this city.