Men in Black: Lawyers protest mass surveillance in Berlin (VIDEO)

Screenshot from Ruptly video

Screenshot from Ruptly video

More than 300 protesters gathered in front of the German Chancellery to mark the upcoming second anniversary of Edward Snowden’s leak of the NSA secret intelligence data that removed the veils from the eyes of the public.

Berlin saw a crowd of several hundred lawyers all dressed in
black robes on Saturday evening. They were accusing the German
government of telling lies to the public, while trying to keep
covert relations with the US National Security Agency secret.

Another problem, appearing on the agenda of the protest, was the
planned reintroduction of data retention and the spying by the
BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency.

READ MORE: Ukraine conflict, US spying contradict
EU values – German vice-chancellor

The new legislation, which is officially aimed at combating
terrorism, was presented by the German government on Wednesday.
It suggests storing IP addresses of computers for up to two and a
half months, as well as location data of mobile phone
conversations for up to four weeks.

Burkhard Hirsch, former vice-president of the German Bundestag
was present at the protest, according to Ruptly video agency. He
recalled slogans that now have become common in German society –
Germany is no surveillance state”, “On German soil
German law applies”
, “The American government has
offered the implementation of a ‘no spy’ agreement”
and
“we have informed to the best of our knowledge and
belief”
.

Hirsch said, “without the bravery of Edward Snowden all these
sentences would have not been exposed for what they are – a
blatant lie, which does not exist for our protection but solely
for the retention of power,”
according to the Ruptly video.

The protest was organised by a non-partisan initiative,
‘Lawyers against mass surveillance’, founded in the
German city of Hamburg.

An address written by US whistleblower Edward Snowden was
followed by the speeches by Hans-Christian Stroebele, a member of
the Green Party, and Peter Schaar, an Office of the Federal
Commissioner incumbent.

Information revealed by Snowden about two years ago, suggested
that the NSA tapped mobile phones of various world leaders,
including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Later, this year, as the extent of the dependence of the BND on
US surveillance was revealed, the public voiced their concerns
and one third of society expressed feeling deceived by the covert
policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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Men in Black: Lawyers protest mass surveillance in Berlin (VIDEO)
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