Mitch, John and Nick watched the news feeds. Mitch kept an eye on the time; he and Nick needed to be on the streets at six a.m. for their own rally starting at seven. His phone rang and Mitch grabbed it. Seeing Adam’s number he put it on speaker phone.
“Adam, you’re on speaker phone. John and Nick are with me. What’s happening?” Mitch asked.
“It’s out of control already.” Adam fought to be heard above the noise.
Mitch could barely hear him.
“I can’t see the girls or the cops. The noise coming from the next block is full-on and I’ve heard sirens down there so that’s all over. Upfront, there’s no violence yet, so I’m sticking to plan,” Adam said.
“Be careful Adam, you don’t know who is listening around you,” Mitch reminded him. Adam changed his message slightly.
“Got it. There are thousands here, word not only spread but the NAO obviously has a huge following…there’s thousands of us in our black and badges,” he said, including himself for fear of being overhead.
Mitch could hear the tension in his voice. “Can you see Voigt?”
“Oh yeah, he’s in place with his team around him,” Adam said. “There’s wall to wall signs with his image on them as well, being waved around. Ellie and Eva are up front near him.”
“Adam, just do the deed early and get out of there,” Mitch said. “All we need is for the media team to capture the worst for the feed and our work is done. You don’t need to stick around; the locals can clean that up. Just set up the shot we need, get the girls and get out.”
A loud noise like an explosion could be heard.
“What was that?” Adam asked. The line cut out.
“Shit,” Mitch swore and rang him back. It went to message bank. He looked from John to Nick and back at the footage now on BBC of the rally.
“This is out of hand before it starts,” Mitch said. He turned up the volume of the news report.
“Thousands have turned out for a rally in the suburb of Kreuzberg in Berlin; a suburb traditionally known for immigrant unrest. Our correspondent Rosemary McQuirk is on the scene.”
Cross to journalist on the streets:
“Thank you Andrew. Yes, the organized rally location seems a strange choice for the launch of candidate Leon Voigt’s run for the seat of Chancellor. Supporting him are thousands of people wearing badges for The New Aryan Order and carrying campaign signs. Voigt is at the front of the march which extends down several blocks. It seems to have attracted hundreds of neo-Nazi supporters who, by the looks of their attire, are not members of The New Aryan Order.”
The newsreader cut to an interview with a beautiful blond male, tall and chiseled. Underneath him a caption read: Sebastian Graf, CEO of The New Aryan Order German Chapter. He spoke in English, directly to camera.
“The New Aryan Order is the party that will return Germany to Germans. Leon Voigt will be Chancellor and the glory of Germany—its history and its culture—will be restored.”
The news piece cut to the thousands marching and carrying lanterns before returning to the reporter.
“Andrew, you’ll notice the use of lanterns. A NAO member told me that the glass of the lanterns signifies the anniversary of the original Kristallnacht on this day in 1938 when windows of synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses were smashed during a violent outburst. Then German officials responded that it was an act of public sentiment in response to the assassination of German embassy official Ernst vom Rath by a seventeen-year-old Polish Jew. It is noteworthy that Kristallnacht marked the first instance in which the Nazis incarcerated Jews on the basis of their ethnicity. It is an interesting anniversary to mark for a party supposedly launching a peaceful campaign.
The reporter steadied herself after being shoved by the crowd and continued.
“I am told this is meant to be a peaceful campaign launch but it is very frightening here. A New Aryan Order spokesperson said they weren’t expecting a crowd like this. The swell is pushing and crushing people along the streets.”
The news feed cut to crowds protesting and cheering as they marched along the streets. Hundreds of people were pressed against shop windows or jostling for position on footpaths to watch.
“I contacted the head of the Jewish Central Council based in Berlin who said they had no knowledge of the rally and expect the government and police to act to shut it down immediately.”
Ellen felt the crowd pressing against her. It was hard to breathe, hard to hear, but she could hear her heart thumping a hundred miles an hour. She attempted to move to the sidewalk out of the crowd, but throngs of people were pushing into the parade and filling up the paths. She felt Eva take her hand and pull her through the crowds. The front of the rally was chanting “Voigt for Chancellor, Germany for Germans”. Camera crews were everywhere and the communication team from Germany’s BKA—the German equivalent of the FBI—was waiting for that one shot to capture Voigt in a moment of violence.
Ellen knew the aggression had to start at the front as soon as possible to get the footage needed; the media was moving to the back streets where the sirens were blaring. Ellen and Eva had passed the point at which they agreed Adam would break the glass, which meant Adam would almost be parallel to it.
C’mon Adam, it’s now or never, Ellen thought.
Adam realized the timing of his shot would have to be moved forward. He moved as close as he could to several shop windows to put his plan in place and as he reached for the gun to shoot a pellet through the glass, a loud roar went up from behind him, turning heads away.
Perfect, he thought. As he went to take the shot, a young man in a black leather jacket with a red swastika on the back, threw a rock through a window, shattering the glass. People nearby began to scream and yell. Many dropped to the ground. Caught up in the excitement, three young men followed suit, throwing their lanterns at more windows and shattering them as they’d predicted.
“Bloody hell,” Adam muttered, “Job done.” He hid his gun and moved through the crowd, away to the meeting point Eva and Ellen had selected.
Further up the line, Ellen flinched at the sound of breaking glass. NAO members around her began to get excited. Arms were raised and cries of Heil Hitler filled the air. She saw Voigt; he was yelling, his face red, the image could be misconstrued as anger or support. His campaign signs waved around him and members of the NAO did the Nazi salute in support. Got you, she smiled. She allowed Eva to continue to navigate their way through the crowd to the meeting spot.
Mitch, John and Nick watched it unfolding. They saw the vision of the glass window breaking and a man in a leather jacket running away. They saw the crowd erupting in fear and trying to disperse. Leon Voigt was yelling amidst a sea of signage and Nazi salutes.
“Someone’s done Adam’s job for him,” Mitch said. He rocked on the balls of his feet as he watched. He glanced at his watch, his phone and back to the screen. “Get out now,” Mitch said, talking to himself and willing his Berlin team to safety. The rally was getting more violent, reaching fever pitch.
They turned to the CNN footage. A middle-aged man was reporting the news, a subtitle carried his name: Chris Townsend.
“A neo-Nazi rally organized to launch the campaign of Chancellor-candidate Leon Voigt on the anniversary of Kristallnacht has sent shock waves through the city of Berlin. Kasey Donolly is on the ground.”
Kasey, backed up against a shop window on the sidewalk near the rally, yelled above the noise: “Chris, it is a frightening turnout for what was supposed to be a peaceful campaign launch. I don’t think anyone expected the campaign message to be neo-Nazi; now the protest has erupted in violence. We spoke to the candidate, Leon Voigt earlier.”
Leon Voigt: “This is a peaceful rally to show the superiority of the Aryan race and to announce that if I am elected Chancellor, my team and I will make Germany the superior country that it is entitled to be.”
Kasey continued to yell: “Officials are saying the choice of location in an area known for multiculturalism and civil unrest was counter intuitive for a peaceful rally and an irresponsible choice by the New Aryan Order. Police and the riot squad have made hundreds of arrests and at this stage the violence is not abating.”
A roar of noise erupted behind her and the camera panned to catch Voigt and his party as they searched for cover. Near the reporter several cars were rolled and set on fire and the front windows of a row of shops shattered. Kasey ducked as an object was hurled past her, smashing into the glass window next to her. A cheer went up.
She dropped the microphone as the crowd surged towards her. The camera operator was shoved with her, the camera continued to roll. Kasey began to scream, pressed against the glass of the one remaining pane in the shop front where she stood.
“Get back, you’re going to break the glass,” she said gasping, the glass pane bent in. “I can’t breathe, get back”. Her voice could barely be heard over the noise of the crowd. The vision continued to roll.
Adam Forster could see the young reporter and a group of other people being crushed against the window. He moved towards them, yelling for people to clear the area. He could see she was gasping, her chest was caving in with the pressure, the glass dangerously bowing behind her. People next to and around Kasey were screaming. Adam was yelling “move back, move back.”
The glass window shattered; a large piece above acting as a guillotine. Kasey and a dozen other people pressed against the glass fell into the shop. Adam watched as her body was cut in two from the shoulders up.
The CNN presenter’s voice could be heard. “Kasey can you…we need to come back to the studio.” The camera stayed on Kasey. CNN went to an emergency black screen. The rally had its first fatalities. Mitch covered his face.
“Fuck.” He dropped his hands. “John, we need to make the call upstairs and call the plan off—we don’t need to agitate; the party by the nature of their message has done that themselves. Let’s focus on just managing the march safely. There should be enough bad publicity now from Berlin to make our case here.”
“I can tell you what the response will be now,” John said. “There’s politics at play here.”
Mitch shook his head. He and Nick watched the news as John returned to his own office to make the call. He returned moments later.
“They’re not convinced that enough people will see or care what is happening on a global stage. Our orders are to continue as planned,” John said.
Mitch nodded and turned to Nick. “Let’s go.”