Off-Guardian reported yesterday: “The Berlin Senate’s decision to ban the coronavirus protest planned for this weekend has been overturned by the Administrative Court.”

A friend in Germany wrote me: “Even the corrupt media seemed to agree, claiming that after all we live in a democracy (really?) and that even a group of conspiracy theorists should have the right of assembly (how kind of them to say that).”

As I demonstrated in a previous post, the last rally in Berlin drew in about one million people, even though media is still claiming 20,000. Now, the media is estimating 22,000 will attend to today. So far it looks like another vast under-estimation…

Since the government couldn’t stop the protest using the law, they decided to prepare by using force. According to Deutsche Welle News: “Some 3,000 officers would be patrolling the streets, including reinforcements from other parts of Germany, and water cannons would be used if necessary…”

Officials have stated that they are ready to “end the event ‘very swiftly’ if social distancing isn’t observed.” Social distancing, an unproven method to stop the spread of a unproven pandemic, is being leveraged as a way to quell dissent.

A Facebook post from Germany offered a more hopeful perspective: “The demonstration is expecting about five million protesters. The purpose is to stay until the government resigns! We have food and drink for five days. An airline company who does not yet want to go public will bring protesters from many parts of the world…. 200 buses [are bringing] protesters from many cities in Europe…. A general of the German military is going to resign on stage. Ships and boats are going to block the river Spree. Even helicopters will demonstrate in the air! The police are on our side. They will not intervene for masks or distance. We want to paralyze all of Berlin. Camps are to be set up all over Berlin.”

Sadly such optimism hasn’t come to fruition. My source in Germany just wrote: “Unfortunately, the police gave into the political pressure and basically forced people into closed areas where there wasn’t enough room for social distancing. This gave them an official reason for cancelling the event. Lawyers from the protest organization tried in vain to explain to the chief of police that their actions and decision were unconstitutional and were going against the judge’s ruling… to no avail. It is now official… we are living under a perverted dictatorship.”

Instead of finding this discouraging, I think we should find it clarifying. It shows what we are up against, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated yesterday. Kennedy flew to Berlin for the event and was expected to speak on stage at the rally. Yesterday, in an interview he said:

“Today is probably the worst battle we’ve seen in human history. And governments love pandemics. And authoritarian elements in a society love pandemics. Because it gives them a capacity to use fear, to use terror, to exert authoritarian and control on a society. To compel obedience from the people…. We are seeing this now, for the first time, all over the world…. It’s happening now. And it’s up to our generation to rise up and stop it.”

Day’s not over yet. 3,000 police ain’t much. And I doubt all the police will go along with the dictators and that there’s only 20,200 protesters.

Democracy still has a chance, Gandhi-style.