- Title: Manure and a broken arm: Activist priest's 30-year tangle with Deutsche Bank
- Date: 9th March 2020
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (MARCH 5, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (German) 79-YEAR-OLD EX-PRIEST AND 30-YEAR VETERAN PROTESTER AGAINST DEUTSCHE BANK, GREGOR BOECKERMANN, SAYING: "You almost have to feel sorry for Deutsche Bank these days and how its share price dropped from 100 to 7 euros. I actually investigated what the share price is right now, 7 euros." BOECKERMANN AND OTHER PROTESTERS OUTSIDE DEUTSCHE BANK BOECKERMANN WITH PLACARD STONE NEXT TO TREE READING IN GERMAN "TREE OF LIFE" (SOUNDBITE) (German) 79-YEAR-OLD EX-PRIEST AND 30-YEAR VETERAN PROTESTER AGAINST DEUTSCHE BANK, GREGOR BOECKERMANN, SAYING: "We planted this apple tree (Apfelbaum) in reference to Luther. Luther is said to have said that 'should the world come to an end tomorrow I would plant my apple tree today.' That's what we did here outside Deutsche Bank hoping that the tree's roots will one day be so strong that Deutsche Bank will explode, meaning we want capitalism to change in a way that all people have a life of abundance." "APPLE TREE" SIGN IN GERMAN HANGING FROM TREE / DEUTSCHE BANK IN BACKGROUND
- Embargoed: 23rd March 2020 15:45
- Keywords: capitalism deutsche bank gregor boekermann losses priest protester share price
- Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- City: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA003C4BY45P
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In the last three decades, Deutsche Bank has expanded and shrunk its global footprint, made and lost billions, and its shares have soared and sunk. But there has been one constant: A priest-turned-activist's determined mission against the bank.
Since 1990, on the first Thursday of every month, Gregor Boeckermann and about a dozen others have gathered at Deutsche's Frankfurt headquarters to protest free-wheeling capitalism he says the bank represents.
He is still at it 30 years later.
Boeckermann, 79, personifies the poor public perception of Germany's largest lender, which is desperate to reverse its flagging fortunes as it marks 150 years in March.
He has over the decades chained himself with others to block Deutsche Bank's parking and spilt liquid manure at its main entrance. A security guard once tackled him, and his arm broke.
The scene was more muted at this month's protest on Thursday. Sporting a furry trapper hat, Boeckermann stood under a rainbow umbrella and "peace" flag as fellow protesters beat drums.
He said Deutsche was the "ideal symbol" for the capitalism he disdains for sustaining what he considers an unfair economic system which keeps wealth concentrated among a few elites while the poor get poorer. "But you almost have to feel sorry for Deutsche Bank these days," he told Reuters.
According to Boeckermann, the bank's share price dropped from 100 euros to 7 euros. That was last week.
On Monday (March 9), Deutsche shares traded for 5.95 euros, down 12.1% as impact from the coronavirus hit stock markets worldwide.
(Production: Andreas Buerger, Tilman Blasshofer, Michele Sani) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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