Germany: Thousands flock to Berlin's streets to protest against govt's COVID restrictions

Despite a ban against gatherings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of protesters on Saturday took to streets in Germany, demonstrating against the government’s COVID measures in capital city Berlin. Many protesters were detained as they clashed with the police, according to a report by The Associated Press (AP). "We are the people!," chanted the protestors while making their way through Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte neighbourhoods, the police told The AP. The Police further said that they had banned nine planned demonstrations for Saturday, including one from the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, considered as the most visible anti-lockdown movement in the country. 

More than 2,000 police officers were deployed to stop the protest

However, a court had permitted for one event, planned for 500 people, on weekends, but thousands ignored the bans and participated in demonstrations raising their voices against the government's measures. Berlin’s police department deployed more than 2,000 police officers were deployed around the capital city to stop the protest. The local German media reported that the police also resorted to pepper spray to disperse a crowd unwilling to leave once the protest had ended. Meanwhile, a counter-protest complete with techno music drew a crowd of several thousand as well, who backed the government's restrictions to contain the spread of the virus and opposed the Querdenker movement. However, the counter-protesters were also sent back by the police as the crowd became too big to allow for social distancing, reported The AP.

Protests came a month before country's federal election

The Saturday protests came a month before the federal election, with several contesting candidates promising to dispense with strict lockdowns on the country. Germany eased many of its coronavirus curbs in May, including reopening restaurants and bars. However, amid concerns over the rising cases of Delta variant, The country reported 10,303 new cases and 22 fatalities on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 92,096, reported The AP. It should be mentioned here that similar protests took place in Berlin at the beginning of the month, which also ended in clashes with the police. Following this, Wolfgang Schäuble, president of Germany’s parliament, had sharply criticized the Querdenker movement.

(With Inputs from AP)

(Image Credits: AP)