BERLIN (AP) – Protesters in Germany clashed with police on Saturday over coronavirus measures, with officers using water cannons, pepper spray and batons against people trying to break through police barriers, the German news agency dpa reported.
Protests against government measures to curb 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 central German city of Kassel, where there were also confrontations between the protesters and counter-protesters.
Thousands of people marched through Kassel city center despite a court ban, and most did not comply with infection control protocols such as wearing face masks. Some protesters attacked officers and several journalists, dpa said.
The federal police, brought in advance from other parts of Germany, used water cannons and helicopters to control the crowds, the news agency reported.
Police said several people were detained but did not give any numbers.
Several groups, mostly far-right opponents of government regulations to fight the pandemic, called for protest calls in cities across the country on Saturday.
Viral infections have increased again in Germany over the past few weeks and the government will decide next week how to respond.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany would have to apply an “emergency brake” and stop the recent easing of restrictions if coronavirus infections accelerated.
Germany’s national disease control center said new infections were growing exponentially as the more contagious COVID-19 variant first detected in Britain became dominant in the country.
On Saturday, the Robert Koch Institute reported 16,033 new cases and registered 207 additional deaths, bringing the total death toll in Germany to 74,565.
In Berlin, about 1,800 police officers were ready for possible riots, but only about 500 protesters gathered at the city’s Brandenburg Gate. Meanwhile, about 1,000 citizens gathered on Unter den Linden Boulevard in Berlin to protest against the right-wing protest.
Protesters also hit the streets in other cities in Europe. In London, protesters opposed to the UK’s months of imprisonment taunted police.
The protest came after more than 60 lawmakers signed a letter demanding that the government change the law and allow protests to take place, even when pandemic restrictions hinder other types of gatherings.
The letter, coordinated by civil rights groups Liberty and Big Brother Watch, follows the fact that police broke out about a vigil last weekend in honor of Sarah Everard, a woman who was abducted while walking home in London. A London police officer is charged with her kidnapping and murder.
In Finland, police estimated that about 400 people without masks and tightly packed in the capital Helsinki, to protest the government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions. Smaller demonstrations were planned in other Finnish cities.
Before the rally in Helsinki, about 300 people had slogans such as ‘Let the people speak!’ and posters bearing phrases like “Facts and numbers do not count” marched through the streets of the city and ended up in the parliament building.
Helsinki police tweeted that the registered march and protest took place peacefully, but violated Finland’s social distance requirements and current limits at public gatherings. O
More than a thousand anti-vaccination protesters take to the streets in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, amid a surge of COVID-19 infections there.
The largely maskless crowd blew horns, waved national flags and sang messages such as ‘Block vaccination’ and ‘Freedom’. One poster reads: “Parents, protect your children! Stop the fear! ”
Romania’s far-right AUR party has given strong support to a movement linked to nationalism that has been planning anti-vaccination protests in recent weeks.
In Austria, about 1,000 protesters took part in a protest against the government’s virus measures near Vienna’s central train station. The police have several demonstrators reprimanded who have remained and too close wearing masks to each other, reported the news agency APA.
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 wore no masks, and some carried banners with slogans such as ‘Kill Vaccination’.
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Jari Tanner in Danica Kirka of London and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania reported.