Political activists have an appearance by the Chancellor on Sunday at the federal government’s open day Olaf Scholz (SPD) disturbed. Two protesters took off their shirts and protested “topless” with the slogan “Gas embargo now” on their skin. They also threw colored play money around. Scholz seemed surprised for a moment, but took it calmly and laughed at the cameras. Police officers led the bare-breasted women away and the politician continued to speak.
Thousands of people flocked to Berlin’s government district on Sunday. Long queues formed in front of the Federal Chancellery. Chancellor Scholz, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) and other ministers answered questions from citizens and presented their work. The government’s usual open days in August had been paused for two years due to the corona pandemic. For the first time, the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP presented itself in this context – under the motto “Democracy invites”.
Critics of the Corona policy called for protest actions
Not only in the garden of the Chancellery interested citizens crowded together in the clear summer weather. Ministries and authorities had already opened their doors to visitors on Saturday, but on the first day it was raining at times. The government drew a positive interim balance on Saturday evening, but did not name any visitor numbers.
On social media channels, conspiracy ideologues and opponents of the state anti-corona measures had occasionally called for the event to be used for expressions of dissatisfaction. When Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) appeared on Saturday, there were occasional heckling such as “That’s a lie” and “That’s not true.”