Police stop several corona protests in Saxony
Saxony votes on the epidemic situation – police expect protests
The Saxon state parliament wants to decide on the determination of the epidemic situation due to the dramatic corona numbers. Corona deniers have called for a demonstration in front of the state parliament. Follow Prime Minister Kretschmer’s speech here.
In Saxony, meetings are currently only allowed with a maximum of ten participants. During protests against the Corona measures in several places, this number was significantly exceeded, in Freiberg it should have been more than 1000. The police intervened.
D.he police stopped protests against state corona measures in several places in Saxony on Monday evening. In Bautzen, for example, around 350 people were heading towards the city center, the police said. They were stopped and the personal details of 30 people involved were recorded. In addition, there was a meeting on the Kornmarkt in Bautzen, at which the police also intervened. The place was too full and those present were asked to move away.
An inadmissible elevator was also stopped in Freiberg, the police said on Twitter. According to estimates by a dpa photographer, the number of participants was in the four-digit range. In Chemnitz, according to dpa information, a few hundred demonstrators only got a few hundred meters. Then the emergency services surrounded them. The police said they would establish identities and produce administrative offense reports.
The Corona Emergency Ordinance currently only allows meetings with a maximum of ten participants in Saxony. The fact that the police had not acted or hardly acted against such demonstrations in the past few weeks had sparked fierce criticism.
Saxony’s state parliament determined the epidemic situation in the Free State on Monday and thus created the legal basis for its own protective measures in the corona pandemic. The police had secured the meeting with a large contingent and sealed off the parliament.
According to the police, about 50 people gathered without permission shortly after the session opened. The meeting was dissolved and an administrative offense procedure was initiated. By the afternoon, 27 people had to answer for violations of the emergency regulation.
Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) announced tough action against corona deniers. In a speech in the state parliament, he referred, among other things, to the around 30 people who had stood with torches in front of the house of the Saxon Health Minister Petra Köpping (SPD) on Friday evening. He condemned the action sharply and promised: “We will enforce the law on our part.” The Saxon police will “help enforce the rule of law”.
Corona protests in almost all districts of Thuringia
In Thuringia, too, there were protests against the Corona measures in almost all districts. There were a total of 24 meeting places, said a police spokesman on Monday evening. The number of participants was mostly higher than currently permitted. Only stationary rallies with a maximum of 35 people are allowed in Thuringia. The officials had therefore tried not to allow elevators and to find those responsible in the non-registered demos. However, it was difficult to be everywhere with a sufficient number of emergency services, it said.
According to the police, the largest protests were in Erfurt with around 1,000, in Altenburg with around 800 and in Zeulenroda with 600 participants. According to the police, the organizers of the Erfurt demo will have to pay a fine of around 1500 euros due to the size of the gathering. There were also demonstrations in Eisenach, Nordhausen, Arnstadt, Jena, Saalfeld, Sömmerda and other cities.
According to a preliminary assessment by the police, things were generally quieter than during the weekend protests. For example, there were fewer reported crimes. In Erfurt, a person from the leadership of the meeting presumably insulted a police force.