5000 people demonstrate against corona policy – attacks on police officers
Police in Munich cordon off a street during a demonstration
Source: dpa / Lennart Preiss
Thousands of people protest in Munich against the corona policy. The police are trying to stop the unannounced “walks”. There are attacks on police officers, the officers use pepper spray and batons.
R.and 5000 opponents of the Corona measures demonstrated in Munich on Wednesday evening. Tried on Ludwigstrasse and in the district around the Siegestor and the Ludwig Maximilians University according to police information around 500 officials to prevent the unannounced “walks”.
An alliance of several initiatives had previously complained that the cancellation of the planned Wednesday demonstration on Geschwister-Scholl-Platz in front of the university denied them their right to freedom of assembly. According to the police, the rally was canceled by the applicant.
Most of the demonstrators did not wear mouth and nose protection and did not keep their distance from one another. Again and again the police tried to stop the march of the demonstration participants.
Videos on Twitter showed that the protesters broke police chains.
The Munich police announced after the demonstration that the emergency services had perceived the atmosphere as “aggressive”. Participants in the demonstration behaved “disrespectfully and insultingly” towards the officials. A media representative is said to have been attacked during the riots, and the police arrested the alleged perpetrator.
Demonstrators, accompanied by police officers, at Munich Central Station
Source: dpa / Lennart Preiss
“In the course of the operation, there were repeated attacks on police officers and acts of resistance,” said the press release. “The emergency services were so pressured and attacked that they had to use pepper spray and the multi-purpose stick.”
A demonstration had formed, which was pulled towards the city center and stopped by law enforcement officers. The protesters ignored requests from the police, it said. Later the participants dispersed, around 9:30 p.m. there were only a few groups in the city center.
The car traffic on Ludwigstrasse was temporarily stopped because the demonstrators were walking on the lane, said a police spokeswoman. If the initiators of the so-called walks are identified, they could face a fine. According to a police report, several people entered the street and the tram tracks in Sonnenstrasse, which also disrupted traffic.
Eleven arrests, fourteen reports
Eleven people have been provisionally arrested. 14 other crimes – including the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations and threats with a knife – were reported.
According to the police, around 160 people protested against “lateral thinkers” at the same time on Odeonsplatz. An alliance called for “solidarity instead of oath” from the left, the Green Youth and other groups.