72 Hours: How a Spiegel Cover Story Became a Rally of 13,000 — and Why the Main Person Didn't Come

Spiegel on Wednesday. Rally on Sunday. In between: a machine.

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The Timeline

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72 hours. From the cover story to the rally. Including a coalition that didn’t exist before.

Who Was at the Rally

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The Politicians

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• Saskia Esken — SPD Chair. Demands a “digital violence protection law.” Admits on questioning: “The competencies of law enforcement authorities aren’t really the problem.” Dodges the question about a digital ID. Names NIUS as an enemy.
• Ricarda Lang — former Green Party chair
• Franziska Brantner — Green Party chair
• Lisa Paus — Greens, former Federal Family Minister
• Katrin Göring-Eckardt — Greens
• Berlin Interior Senator Spranger — supports legislative demands

The Activist

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• Luisa Neubauer — Fridays for Future. Speaker.

The Absent One

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• Collien Fernandes — the woman being rallied for — was not there. Her statement was read out. According to her management, she “neither organized the rally nor is appearing as a speaker.” She lives in Spain.

“Feminist Fight Club!”

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The rally was organized by a coalition called “Feminist Fight Club!”

This coalition was, according to media reports, newly founded — shortly before the rally. No website. No history. No known structure.

A newly founded coalition organizes a rally at the Brandenburg Gate in less than 48 hours — complete with stage, sound system, signs, and — by their own account — 13,000 participants.

Anyone who has organized a rally of this size knows: it requires permits, stage construction, a security concept, paramedics, marshals. It takes weeks. Or: an existing infrastructure operating under a new name.

According to press reports, the coalition consists of around twenty activists. Co-organizer: the initiative “Nur Ja heißt Ja!” (Only Yes Means Yes).

Among the speakers: Josephine Ballon — CEO of HateAid. The same person who admitted knowing about the case “for months.” The same organization funded by the Alfred Landecker Foundation (the Reimann family), the Federal Ministry of Justice, and the Federal Ministry for Family. The complete funding investigation here.

HateAid explicitly thanked the Spiegel team on Instagram after the publication. Shareholder Campact had a finished article one day after the cover story. CEO Ballon stands as a speaker on the stage of a rally that a “newly founded” coalition of 20 activists organized in 48 hours.

The question of who funded the rally was not asked by any outlet.

The Attendance Figures

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The discrepancy between 13,000 (organizers) and 2,500 (BILD) is remarkable. At Corona demonstrations in 2020/21, the police figure was regularly used as the reference — systematically lower than the actual attendance. Here there’s no police figure. Only the organizer’s claim, taken over by media.

What Happened at the Rally

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A bystander wanted to watch the speakers. The crowd jostled him. Marshals pushed him away — not because he was causing a disturbance, but because his “presence” was “disturbing” the participants. The crowd chanted: “Nazis out! No sex for Nazis!”

His offense: being there.

A rally against digital violence practicing physical exclusion against dissenting observers — documented on video.

Esken at the Rally: What She Said — and Didn’t Say

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SPD Chair Saskia Esken gave an interview at the rally. Her statements:

What she demands:

“What’s missing is the digital violence protection law.”

What she concedes:

“The competencies of law enforcement authorities aren’t really the problem.”

If law enforcement already has enough authority — why new laws?

What she doesn’t answer: The question of whether the digital violence protection law could include a digital ID — Esken sidesteps. Instead she shifts to “culture” and names “right-wing networks” and “NIUS and others” as the problem.

What she frames: Factual criticism by constitutional law expert Frauke Posius-Gersdorf is described as a “campaign.” The interviewer objects: she wasn’t attacked because she’s a woman, but over substantive positions. Esken relativizes.

What’s Missing: The Counter-Voice

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At the rally, no one spoke about:

• The presumption of innocence for Christian Ulmen — the Spanish justice system is investigating, but there is no verdict
• The question of why Fernandes and Ulmen filmed joint commercials in 2025 — after the complaint was filed
• The HateAid pipeline: Campact co-founds HateAid, HateAid prepares the case for months, Campact has the finished article. Documented in detail in our investigation.
• One demonstrator brought a sign: “Real names in Epstein files, not online!” It was the only sign that asked about the other direction.

The Pattern

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This timeline resembles an event two years earlier: the Correctiv investigation into the so-called “secret plan” (January 2024). There too:

• Media publication → immediate political reactions → demonstrations within days
• “Newly founded” coalitions organized large-scale rallies nationwide
• Politicians from the same parties stood in the front row
• Questions about organizers and funding remained unanswered

The pattern is identical. The infrastructure exists. It just needs an occasion.

The Real Question

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Collien Fernandes deserves to have her allegations examined. By the courts. In Spain. Through due process.

What she doesn’t deserve — and what no one deserves — is for an unresolved case to be used as a lever for laws affecting millions of people. Before a court has spoken.

72 hours. From a cover story to a rally with government participation. This isn’t solidarity. It’s a campaign — with a script that was written before the occasion arrived.

Update 24.03.2026: From Cover Story to Law in One Week

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Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) is already working on draft legislation against deepfakes. The magazine Cicero confirms the HateAid connections in its own article: “The Demo Before the Verdict.” 250 prominent women — including Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, Nina Chuba, and Carolin Kebekus — published a 10-point plan in Spiegel.

From the Spiegel cover story (19.03.) to the rally (22.03.), the 10-point plan (23.03.), and legislation (24.03.) — five days. The pipeline delivers faster than any legislative process provides for.

Sources

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• Spiegel (19.03.2026): “You virtually raped me.” Cover story.
• Campact (20.03.2026): Article on the Fernandes/Ulmen case.
• Hayali, D. (21.03.2026): Video statement. X/Twitter (account set to private).
• Merkur (22.03.2026): Collien Fernandes on ARD — “Feminist Fight Club!” announces rally
• SZ (22.03.2026): Thousands at rally against sexualized digital violence
• BR24 (22.03.2026): Thousands at rally against digital sexual violence
• Esken, S. (22.03.2026): Interview at the rally. Video via X/Twitter.
• Tagesspiegel (22.03.2026): Berlin Interior Senator Spranger supports demands
• t-online (22.03.2026): Fernandes neither organized the rally nor appearing as a speaker
• Apotheke ADHOC / RTL (2026): Shop Apotheke suspends advertising with Ulmen and Fernandes
• Wallasch, A. (22.03.2026): Fernandes rally at Brandenburg Gate
• taz (22.03.2026): Rally against sexualized online violence
• Cicero (23.03.2026): Fernandes vs. Ulmen — The Demo Before the Verdict
• Spiegel (23.03.2026): 250 prominent women demand stricter laws against deepfakes and femicides

72 hours. A “new” coalition. Five politicians. A woman who didn’t come. And a sign that asked the right question: “Real names in Epstein files, not online!” — Nobody reported on it.