- 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) 79-YEAR-OLD EX-PRIEST AND 30-YEAR VETERAN PROTESTER AGAINST DEUTSCHE BANK, GREGOR BOECKERMANN, STANDING OUTSIDE BANK'S FRANKFURT HEADQUARTERS, WEARING PLACARD READING IN GERMAN "OUR ECONOMIC SYSTEM STOPS AT NOTHING" VARIOUS OF OTHER FELLOW PROTESTERS HITTING DRUMS RAIN FALLING ON GROUND PROTESTER WEARING PLACARD IN GERMAN READING "THIS ECONOMY KILLS - POPE FRANCIS", DRUMMING (SOUNDBITE) (German) 79-YEAR-OLD EX-PRIEST AND 30-YEAR VETERAN PROTESTER AGAINST DEUTSCHE BANK, GREGOR BOECKERMANN, SAYING: "My name is Gregor Boeckermann. I am a member of the Initiative Religious Members for Peace which has been protesting here in Frankfurt outside Deutsche Bank's headquarters for the past 30 years because our economic system stops at nothing." BOECKERMANN, WEARING PLACARD, WALKING OUTSIDE DEUTSCHE BANK / DEUTSCHE BANK TOWERS (SOUNDBITE) (German) 79-YEAR-OLD EX-PRIEST AND 30-YEAR VETERAN PROTESTER AGAINST DEUTSCHE BANK, GREGOR BOECKERMANN, SAYING: "The core concern for Religious Members for Peace was based on experience in the Third World and we said here in the rich north, something has to change so that people in the poor south are being helped. Our initial demand was a radical debt cancellation for the Third World."
- 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: LVA001C4BY45P
- 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
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None