The Occupy movements that emerged in different parts of the world over the last years inaugurated and shaped a new form of political protest. Until the beginning of the twenty-first century, people would voice their discontent by assembling and forming a demonstration, marching through the streets, shouting demands and carrying banners with apposite slogans. They would head to a specified public place where a meeting would take place before the demonstration dissolved.

This was also the format of the so-called Monday demonstrations in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), which ultimately led to the reunification of the two German states. Taking place not only in Leipzig, but also in Dresden, Halle, Karl-Marx-Stadt (today's Chemnitz), Magdeburg, Plauen, Arnstadt, Rostock, Potsdam, and Schwerin, the people marched through the streets forming protest choruses and chanting the slogan “Freiheit!” (“Freedom!”) and “Wir sind das Volk!” (“We are the people!”). On October 9, 1989 – two days after the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the GDR – a mass demonstration of about 130,000 citizens formed in Leipzig after a “prayer for peace” was held at several churches. The people left the service with burning candles in their hands as a sign of their peaceful intentions. The slogan had changed: now they were chanting “Wir sind ein Volk!” (“We are one people!”). From that point onward, the number of participants of the Monday demonstrations grew on a weekly basis.