German spy agency to monitor anti-lockdown protesters

The surveillance targets some members of the ‘Querdenker’ movement, which has organised increasingly violent protests against coronavirus lockdowns.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency will monitor leading anti-lockdown protesters over concerns they pose a threat to democracy and have ties to the far right, the interior ministry has said. The surveillance targets some members of the “Querdenker” or “Lateral Thinkers” movement, which has organised increasingly violent protests against coronavirus lockdowns and includes conspiracy theorists and suspected far-right members, a spokeswoman for the BfV spy agency said on Wednesday. The movement started with small demonstrations in the southern city of Stuttgart last year but has grown in scope and reach, drawing to its protests Germans from all walks of life frustrated with lockdowns in place since November.