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Demo in Hildburghausen: According to the police, many participants did not adhere to hygiene requirements
Photo: Steffen Ittig / dpa
The Hildburghausen district in Thuringia is the Corona hotspot in Germany.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, there were more than 600 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days.
It was there, of all places, that the police held a protest rally against the new infection protection regulations on Wednesday evening, which the police dissolved.
The officers used pepper spray.
Around 400 people had gathered on the market square despite exit restrictions.
According to the police, there were numerous violations of the applicable Corona rules at the meeting: "For example, minimum distances were not observed, masks were not worn and people left their own apartment without good reason," said the emergency services.
The 30 or so officials had managed to disperse the protesters.
According to the police, pepper spray was used selectively to prevent the protesters from moving onto a local road.
Multiple attempts to get the participants to leave the demonstration have failed, the police said on Thursday night.
30 participants received a complaint for violating the Infection Protection Act.
According to the information, there were no injuries or arrests.
The meeting started around 7 p.m. and the protests ended at around 8.45 p.m.
Mayor is stunned
According to Mayor Tilo Kummer (left), the participants spoke of a “walk”.
"I'm stunned," wrote Kummer on Facebook that evening.
»The market in Hildburghausen is full of people!
Quite a few do not wear masks!
What still has to happen before some people understand the gravity of the situation? ”Several people in the circle fought for their lives.
Entire daycare centers, schools, ambulance stations and fire departments had to be in quarantine in the past two weeks.
"Can't you keep a distance of two weeks?"
A regional shutdown with exit restrictions and closed schools and kindergartens has been in effect in the Hildburghausen district since Wednesday.
The protests took place during the deliberations between the Prime Minister and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) (read more about the results of the negotiations here).
Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) appealed to the people in the Hildburghausen district to adhere to the new infection protection rules.
There is a great effort to "protect life and limb of people" with stricter measures, he said on Wednesday after the video conference between the Prime Minister and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
But he saw pictures that showed that several hundred people had gathered in the marketplace.
Nationwide strongest infection rate
These people, according to Ramelow, had given the signal that they were not interested in the infection process in their circle.
"You are in the district with the highest infection rate in all of Germany, but you signal that you are more likely to reject the measures to stop the infections," said Ramelow.
In Hildburghausen, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute - as of midnight - there were 602.9 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days - this is the nationwide strongest infection.
From a value of 50, a region is considered a risk area.
The district has a population of just over 63,000 people.
Ramelow appealed to the people in Hildburghausen to show solidarity and "to help and support one another".
In southern Thuringia in particular, the situation in the intensive care units of hospitals is tense.
"If you then believe that you can react to it with a greater form of disregard and denial, you are doing your fellow citizens a disservice," said Ramelow.
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