Harald Hänisch was a city councilman from Böhlen, Germany who played a leading role in the November 7 Anti-Lockdown protests held in that country. 8 days later, he was in the hospital, intubated and fighting for his life.
He lost.
The group he was representing deleted associated posts on Facebook.
Schadenfreude
In recent weeks, a growing amount of discontent has taken root in Germany towards public health restrictions the country has implemented in response to the global Coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) pandemic. Some have attributed this, in part, to the early success the country had in getting the disease under control and, consequently, have begun to doubt the seriousness of the virus and the merit of any restrictions necessary for keeping it under control.
Compared with the response in the United States, Germany crushed the first wave of the virus and kept it under control for a long time, but now it seems both fatigue for restrictions and a coalition of bad actors spreading conspiracy theories seem to be contributing to a dramatic increase in cases.
Links to Right-Wing Groups
German officials are now probing possible links the group, “Querdenker” (lateral thinkers), has to their own far-right version of QAnon. The regional governor of the German province Bavaria, Markus Söder, is warning of a “growing conglomeration of right-wing extremists, Reichsbürger, anti-Semites and absurd conspiracy-theorists who accuse politics of satanism” and is demanding German domestic security and intelligence services investigate the matter.
Sources and More Info (German)
Was it Corona? City councilman dies – Anti-lockdown Organization He Led Deletes Facebook Post
