BERLIN (AP) – Protesters in Germany clashed with police on Saturday over measures against the coronavirus, with police using water cannons, pepper spray and batons against people trying to break through police barriers, the news agency reported. German dpa.
Protests against government measures to contain the pandemic have also been reported in several other countries in Europe, including Austria, Britain, Finland, Romania and Switzerland.
More than 20,000 people took part in the protest in the city of Kassel, in central Germany, where there were also clashes between protesters and counter-protesters.
Thousands of people marched through the center of Kassel, despite the court’s ban, and most did not comply with infection control protocols, such as wearing face masks. Some protesters attacked police and several journalists, the dpa said.
Federal police, who were brought in from other parts of Germany, used water cannons and helicopters to control the crowds, the news agency reported.
Police said several people were arrested, but did not provide figures.
Several groups, most of them extreme right-wing opponents of government regulations to combat the pandemic, called for protests on Saturday in cities across the country.
Virus infections have increased again in Germany in the past few weeks and the government must decide next week how to react.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany will have to apply an “emergency brake” and reverse some recent easing of restrictions as coronavirus infections accelerate.
Germany’s national disease control center said new infections are growing exponentially as the most contagious COVID-19 variant first detected in Britain has become dominant in the country.
On Saturday, the Robert Koch Institute reported 16,033 new cases and recorded 207 additional deaths, bringing the total death toll to 74,565 in Germany.
In Berlin, some 1,800 police were waiting for possible riots, but only about 500 protesters gathered at the city’s landmark, Brandenburg Gate. Meanwhile, about 1,000 citizens have gathered on Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard to protest the far-right demonstration.
Protesters also took to the streets in other cities in Europe. In London, protesters who oppose the UK’s month-long blockade challenged the police, who warned of potential fines and arrests for violating bans at most of the group’s meetings.
The demonstration came after more than 60 lawmakers signed a letter demanding the government to change the law and allow protests to take place even when restrictions on the pandemic prevented other types of demonstrations.
The letter, coordinated by civil rights groups Liberty and Big Brother Watch, followed the police by breaking a vigil last weekend in honor of Sarah Everard, a woman who was kidnapped while walking home in London. A London police officer was charged with kidnapping and murder.
In Finland, the police estimated that about 400 people without masks and very crowded gathered in the capital, Helsinki, to protest the government’s restrictions on COVID-19. Smaller demonstrations have been scheduled in other Finnish cities.
Before the Helsinki rally, about 300 people chanting slogans like “Let the people speak!” and carrying posters with phrases like “Facts and figures don’t match” marched through the streets of the city, ending at the Parliament building.
Helsinki police tweeted that the registered march and rally took place peacefully, but violated the requirements of social distance and Finland’s current limits on public meetings.
More than 1,000 anti-vaccination protesters took to the streets in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, amid a wave of COVID-19 infections.
The crowd, largely without a mask, blew horns, waved national flags and shouted messages like “Block vaccination” and “Freedom”. A sign said: “Parents, protect your children! Stop the fear! “
Romania’s far-right AUR party strongly supported a nationalism movement that has planned anti-vaccination demonstrations in recent weeks.
In Austria, about 1,000 protesters took part in demonstrations against the government’s anti-virus measures near Vienna’s central train station. The police rebuked several protesters who did not wear masks and remained very close to each other, the APA news agency reported.
In Switzerland, more than 5,000 protesters gathered for a silent march in the community of Liestal, 15 kilometers southeast of the city of Basel, local media reported. Most did not wear masks and some held banners with slogans like “Vaccinate kills”.
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Jari Tanner in Danica Kirka of London and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania contributed to the report.