WIn the weeks before, tens of thousands of people across Germany demonstrated again on Monday evening against corona measures and a possible compulsory vaccination. According to an estimate based on police information, this time there were more than 75,000. The protests were accompanied by a large police presence and in some places by counter-demonstrations. Meetings were broken up several times, for example in Rostock and Cottbus, because the police could not find a leader or because the mask requirement was violated and no mouth and nose protection was worn.
According to the police, on Monday evening alone in Thuringia 21,000 demonstrators counted against the Corona policy, in Bavaria about 14,000, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 11,000 in Saxony-Anhalt such as Brandenburg and Baden-Wuerttemberg around 7,000 each, around 4,000 in North Rhine-Westphalia and around 3,000 each in Saxony and Berlin.
Opponents of the Corona policy have been taking to the streets in many places for weeks. They don’t always announce or register the demonstrations. Numerous cities have banned unannounced protests, also known as so-called walks.
Firecrackers in Rostock, tear gas use in Cottbus
In the Rostock city center Hundreds of demonstrators gathered against the Corona policy – and a smaller number of counter-demonstrators. After about an hour, there was still no march through the city because the necessary number of folders could not be provided. The leader of the meeting finally dissolved the meeting against the Corona measures because the obligation to protect the mouth and nose was violated. According to observers, the mood among the demonstrators was heated, and firecrackers were also set off.
The police used water cannons at two intersections on August-Bebel-Strasse. The demonstrators were surrounded. It is estimated that at least a dozen troublemakers were provisionally arrested by police officers. Parents with children were also asked to leave the congregation. A total of around 3,000 demonstrators and counter-demonstrators came together, in Schwerin around 2,400.
police officers in Rostock
Source: dpa/Frank Hormann
In Brandenburg cottbus the police broke up a demonstration with around 2,500 participants due to the lack of a leader. In one case, the police had to use tear gas because of resistance. The meeting participant tried to break through a police line. Four people were taken into police custody. Criminal charges were written, among other things, for insult, resistance against law enforcement officers, violation of the weapons law. The identities of 175 people were identified for violating the Assembly Act and administrative offense proceedings were initiated.
In the Cologne city center around 1000 opponents of the corona protection measures and participants in a counter-demonstration under the motto “Cologne is solidarity” met. The different camps “loudly exchanged their opinions” on Neumarkt, said a police spokesman after 9 p.m. However, everything went without any incidents worth mentioning, the events were ended as planned before 9 p.m. by the respective leaders of the meeting.
The opponents of the Corona measures had again announced their meeting as a “walk” and moved from Roncalliplatz via Heumarkt, past Neumarkt, back to Roncalliplatz.
Numerous participants violated the mask requirement, said the Cologne police spokesman. The counter-demonstrators had called for resistance against “shaming protests and denial of science”. “We show that Cologne shows solidarity and clearly distinguishes itself from right-wing conspiracy stories,” it said in its appeal.
Participants in a rally against corona measures and those in a counter-demonstration face each other on the Neumarkt in Cologne
Source: dpa-infocom GmbH
In Magdeburg several hundred people demonstrated for democracy, diversity and solidarity in the corona pandemic. According to the police, around 350 participants came together on the Alter Markt. Posters read, for example, “Vaccination saves lives” or “We are not in a dictatorship”.
According to a police spokeswoman, fewer than 700 people gathered unannounced in the evening on Breiter Weg, a central street in downtown Magdeburg. The police read out the valid general decree over the loudspeaker, according to which protests that have not been registered may only take place at a specific location. Protest marches through the city are prohibited. The police announced that the meeting had been broken up and that participants should leave. According to a police spokeswoman, there was a bottle thrown at police officers – an investigation against the suspect is ongoing. There were also attempts to break through the police chain. In numerous cases, identities have been established.
“Light walk” prohibited – cavalry squadron in action
In Potsdam several hundred people demonstrated against a general obligation to vaccinate and against the corona measures. There were two registered protests in the city center, a vigil in front of the film museum and a demonstration march under the motto “Free vaccination decision Potsdam”. There were also three counter-rallies from the “Potsdam Shows Color” alliance and the left-wing “Solidarity Potsdam” initiative with several dozen participants.
A “light walk” on the square in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam, which had been announced on social media as in the previous weeks, was banned by the police. The ban was enforced with strong forces using a cavalry squadron.
Also in Oranienburg Several hundred people gathered for a rally against the Corona rules on Schlossplatz.
In Bernau and Eberswalde more than a thousand people took to the streets, said police spokesman Roland Kamenz. In Frankfurt (Oder) there were almost 900. A total of 32 meetings against the Corona rules were counted in the area of the East Police Department. Of these, only ten were properly registered, the spokesman said.
In the other cases, no leader of the assembly could be identified, reported Kamenz. As a result, reports were made against unknown persons for violating the Assembly Act. In numerous cases, the officials also took action against violations of the mask requirement.
In Berlin One of the larger demos moved from Alexanderplatz in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate, where, according to the banner, “vaccinated and unvaccinated against compulsory vaccination”. Few people wore masks. A loudspeaker car rang out: “Merkel, Spahn, Steinmeier, Drosten to jail”. The train stopped in front of the ZDF capital city studio for an intermediate rally. A speaker insulted the “German media” that were “conformed” like in 1933.
Protests against corona deniers in Saxony
Hundreds of people took to the streets in several Saxon cities to take a stand against corona deniers, opponents of vaccination and conspiracy ideologues. In Leipzig According to observers, between 400 and 500 people, including nursing staff and medical students, gathered on the central Augustusplatz under the motto “Show attitude”. They campaigned for togetherness and showed solidarity, among other things, with the Dresden medical students, who symbolically stood around the university clinic there on Thursday. However, due to the high number of participants, they were fined.
Also in Chemnitz, Dresden and Zwickau there were counter-protests. According to the currently applicable Corona Protection Ordinance, meetings with up to 1000 participants are permitted in Saxony. A human chain was formed around the Zwickau Cathedral on Marienplatz in memory of the Corona victims and candles were set up.
The right-wing extremist micro-party “Freie Sachsen” had called for protests in more than 150 locations in Saxony. Hundreds of opponents of the state corona measures and opponents of vaccination were back on the streets. In Bautzen According to the Görlitz police department, up to 1,200 people ran through the city center in a two-hour elevator on Monday evening and demonstrated against the Corona policy. The officials did not intervene because, according to the operations manager, the distances between the people had been maintained. Pyrotechnics were ignited several times from the elevator. A criminal offense will be investigated.
In Freiberg According to observers, up to 1000 opponents of the Corona measures came together. Around 80 vehicles took part in a motorcade of opponents of the state measures in Dresden.
The individual federal states have very different rules on the pandemic conditions under which unregistered meetings or so-called “walks” are tolerated – for example with a view to the number of participants.