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 A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining. ...

. He was 66 at the time. Wagner suffered from the damage to his eyelids, a fracturing of a portion of the retinal bone, and damage to the retinas. The injuries resulted in near-complete loss of eyesight. He was knocked unconscious by the blast and noticed blood running down his face when he woke up. Wagner had six operations on his eyes but remained almost completely blind.

Aftermath

Before his participation in the Stuttgart 21 protests, Wagner had no political involvement since being in university. Pictures showing Wagner injured, with two people assisting him, were published in many German newspapers. During later demonstrations, some protesters put red colour on their faces to symbolize Dietrich Wagner. Tristana Moore of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' wrote that the photograph of his injury caused "a regional dispute over an unpopular building project instantly transformed into a national issue — and the political repercussions are now reverberating all the way to Berlin." Wagner became a symbol of the protest against the Stuttgart 21 project. The German newspaper ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

'' wrote that he was the "face of the protest". According to the author Jakob Augstein, the picture had a relevant impact, causing Minister of Baden-Württemberg

Stefan Mappus Stefan Mappus (born 4 April 1966) is a former German politician from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 8th Minister President of the state of Baden-Württemberg 2010–2011 and chairman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg 2009–2011 ...

to lose his position. In 2014 he visited the United Kingdom to ask

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

, the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

, to not authorise usage of water cannons. In an editorial to ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' Wagner opposed the use of water cannons.

References

Living people Engineers from Stuttgart German activists Year of birth missing (living people) {{Germany-engineer-stub