Pandemic tens of thousands demonstrate against Corona requirements
Many Corona requirements are still in force, even though there is increasing debate about relaxing them. As has been the case for weeks, tens of thousands of people again took to the streets against restrictions.
Berlin – Tens of thousands of people again took to the streets in numerous cities on Monday evening against the current Corona measures. There were also counter-demonstrations in some cities.
In Thuringia, about 25 people demonstrated.000 people at 86 separate meetings related to the government’s Corona measures. Many of them protested against the measures, others gathered for counter-demonstrations. According to the police, the highest number of participants in illegal pick-ups was in Gera (about 3,500), Saalfeld (about 2,000) and Gotha (about 1,400). Criminal charges were filed against 25 people, among others for violations of the assembly law and resistance against law enforcement officers.
The counter-event with the largest number of participants was held in Jena, with around 200 people. There measure critic had been injured by a counter-demonstrator.
Protests despite bans
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, according to police, about 9000 participants came to meetings and protest marches in more than 20 cities. The largest Corona protests were reported from Schwerin with 1800 participants and Neubrandenburg with 1650 protesters. In Rostock, the authorities had banned several protest gatherings, but several groups still marched through the city center. Firecrackers were thrown, police had to intervene several times, several people were taken into custody.
In Pforzheim, according to police, about 5000 critics of the Corona policy gathered. Nearby, around 500 people formed a human chain as a sign of cohesion during the pandemic. About 800 people gathered in Karlsruhe for a demonstration against the Corona measures. At the beginning of the meeting on Monday evening, the participants observed a minute’s silence for the police officers killed in the Palatinate region of Germany. The meeting proceeded peacefully, as a police spokeswoman announced early Tuesday morning. In Lubeck, according to police reports, around 1,300 people took part in a peaceful demonstration against Corona restrictions.
In Brandenburg’s capital Potsdam, hundreds of people marched through the city center accompanied by whistles and horns, as a dpa reporter observed. Police counted more than 2,000 demonstrators in three counties north of Berlin, with more than 1,000 in Oranienburg alone. In Cottbus demonstrated about 800 people. In Berlin, around 1000 people took part in a gathering in the Unter den Linden area. In the northern district of Tegel, the police spoke of a protest march with a number of participants "in the lower four-digit range".
Court deals with "walks
In Bautzen in Saxony, about 3000 people took to the streets against the Corona policy. In Dresden, several hundred people joined a Corona march. This action in turn put several dozen people in the way, as a police spokesman said. Hundreds of people each demonstrated in other cities in Saxony and Lower Saxony. There were also demonstrations in several cities in Saxony-Anhalt, the largest in Wittenberg with about 1700. In Halle, police spoke of a four-digit number of participants. At the same time, several hundred people responded to an alliance’s call to commemorate those who died in the pandemic from and with the corona virus in front of the Marktkirche church.
With the issue of municipal bans on unannounced Corona "walks" also dealt with the Federal Constitutional Court. The Karlsruhe court refused to overrule such bans with immediate effect. A man had filed an emergency appeal to overturn a general decree issued by the city of Freiburg, but failed to do so.
The Karlsruhe judges left open, however, the question of whether a precautionary ban on assembly can be compatible with the meaning and scope of the constitutionally protected freedom of assembly. The clarification remains reserved for the main proceedings, it was said it in the resolution, which was published in the afternoon.