BREMEN — Hundreds of anti-fascist demonstrators who gathered in Bremen's city center ahead of German Unity Day have declared they will not leave until they have personally attended every single official celebration, from the church service in the cathedral to the final handshake between President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The group has divided itself into rotating shifts, with one detachment marching directly behind the presidential motorcade and another forming a human chain around the buffet tables at the official reception. Organizers say the new strategy, which they call «total ceremonial saturation,» requires each participant to consume at least one full plate of state-funded potato salad and to applaud every speech for exactly as long as the speaker speaks.
By mid-afternoon, the protest had grown to include a synchronized walking formation that shadowed Steinmeier from the cathedral to the town hall, matching his pace step for step. A spokesperson for the group explained that the goal is to «make the unity celebration so thoroughly attended that no one can claim it was exclusive.» Local police reported no violence, only a severe shortage of folding chairs.
The Bremen city government has responded by printing additional invitations and extending the reception by six hours. A federal official, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted that the demonstrators are now «the most reliable attendees we have.»