Disturbance at BSW rally in Stuttgart: Sevim Dagdelen tackled

At the Stuttgart demonstration under the motto “No to armament, conscription and war!” BSW politician Sevim Dagdelen was approached during her speech. Masked demonstrators initially disturbed the former member of the Bundestag and the member of the BSW federal executive board on Schloßplatz by shouting and booing. When a masked man entered the stage and approached Dagdelen, the police intervened and arrested the man.

“It seemed threatening,” Dagdelen told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”. Other masked people, apparently from the Antifa spectrum, expressed their solidarity with the arrested man. The police then pushed the people back and, according to their own statements, used pepper spray and batons.

In total there were three arrests in connection with the disturbances. The police are investigating the background. After the incident, the rally ended peacefully, according to police.

According to police reports, thousands of people demonstrated in Stuttgart. Their demands included, among other things, a stop to all arms deliveries and economic sanctions and instead increased spending in the social sector. Another demand was to close all US military bases in Germany and to withdraw US nuclear weapons in this country.

The organizers spoke in a press release of 15,000 participants. They had around 10,000 registered. According to a dpa reporter, there were people in the low to mid-thousand range on Schlossplatz. In addition to the speeches, there was also a video greeting from Margot Käßmann, the former council chairwoman of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

An alliance of around 300 organizations called for the event - including peace and anti-war groups, the alliance against conscription and individual local groups of the Verdi union.