Dietrich Wagner

Dietrich Wagner is a retired engineer who suffered damage to his eyes during the 2010 Stuttgart 21 project protests due to the use of water cannons.

Wagner suffered from the damage to his eyelids, a fracturing of a portion of the retinal bone, and damage to the retinas.[1] The eye injuries thus inflicted on the man resulted in near-complete loss of eyesight.[2][3]

He had been knocked unconscious by the blast. He noticed blood running down his face when he woke up. Wagner had six operations on his eyes but remained almost completely blind.[4]

Aftermath

Before his participation in the Stuttgart 21 protests, Dietrich Wagner had no political involvement with an exception during his university education. Pictures showing Wagner injured, with two people assisting him, were published in many German newspapers.[5] During later demonstrations, some protesters put red colour on their faces to symbolize Dietrich Wagner.[6] Wagner became a symbol of the protest against the Stuttgart 21 project. The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that he was the "face of the protest".[7] According to the author Jakob Augstein, the picture had an relevant impact, causing Minister of Baden-Württemberg Stefan Mappus to lose his position.[8]

In 2014 he visited the United Kingdom to ask Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to not authorise usage of water cannons.[4] In an editorial to The Telegraph Wagner opposed the use of water cannons.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Injured Stuttgart 21 protestor could stay blind." The Local. 6 October 2010. Retrieved on 22 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "Wasserwerfer-Opfer bleibt auf einem Auge blind" [Water cannon victim blinded in one eye] (in German). 13 October 2010. Archived from the original on 23 March 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "Blinded Stuttgart 21 protestor wants apology". 28 December 2010. Archived from the original on 23 March 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  4. 1 2 Morrison, Sarah. "The dangers of water cannon: Blinded German man tells Britain ‘don’t make the same mistakes as other countries’." The Independent. Monday 17 February 2014. Retrieved on 22 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Demonstranten drohen zu erblinden. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung vom 6. Oktober 2010 (online)
  6. ↑ Stuttgart 21: Blutiger Protest. In: RP online, 22. Oktober 2010 (online)
  7. ↑ Politik: Gesicht des Widerstands. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 30. September 2011 (online, abgerufen am 4. November 2011)
  8. ↑ Jakob Augstein: „Im Zweifel links: Im Zweifel zuschlagen“, Spiegel Online vom 3. Juni 2013
  9. ↑ Wagner, Dietrich. "People of Britain, beware of the water cannon': a warning from Dietrich Wagner, near-blinded in Stuttgart." The Telegraph. 21 February 2014. Retrieved on 22 March 2014.


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