Corona protest escalated: riots in Lower Saxony

Created: 01/11/2022, 4:53 PM

From: Fabian Raddatz

In several cities in Lower Saxony there were again protests against the Corona measures on Monday evening.

(Symbol picture) © Patrick Pleul / dpa

Attacks on police officers in Celle, arrests in Braunschweig: There have been protests against the Corona rules in Lower Saxony and Bremen.

The scene becomes more radical.

Hanover / Bremen - On Monday evening, January 10, 2021, there were again protests against the Corona measures in several cities in Lower Saxony.

In Braunschweig, for example, according to an initial estimate by the police, around 500 people gathered on Domplatz.

A few meters away, a group tried to break a police chain in the city center, said police spokesman Dirk Oppermann.

According to him, several people were provisionally arrested in order to be able to establish their identities for criminal proceedings for breach of the peace.

Lower Saxony: Corona demos escalate - protest in Braunschweig dissolved

Since, according to the police, no leader of the meeting reported, the officials restricted the meeting to a stationary meeting.

Occasionally people from the group were fixed and led away.

"In these cases it was about administrative offenses, mostly the mask requirement was violated," said Oppermann.

After a little over an hour, the square in the city center was empty again.

The largest demonstration against Corona restrictions took place in Braunschweig last Monday evening with around 1,100 people.

According to the police, there were 13 crimes, including attacks on police officers, throwing bottles and insulting them.

In five cases, allegedly false certificates for exemption from the mask requirement were submitted.

Corona protest in Lower Saxony: Police officer in Celle was beaten

In the state capital Hanover there were ten unregistered demonstrations against the corona policy on Monday evening, as a police spokesman said.

According to the police, around 400 people were in the center of Verden and demonstrated, among other things, with posters against the Corona measures.

In Nordenham the police counted around 60 participants and in Bracke around 30 people.

In Celle, however, a man hit a police officer in the face on Monday evening, the police announced on Tuesday.

The emergency services had therefore ended a meeting whose participants had shown themselves to be uncooperative.

Before the attack, the man first became verbally aggressive when he was threatened with expulsion.

A total of three investigations into insults, resistance and physical assault as well as 17 administrative offense proceedings were initiated in Celle.

Two police officers injured at the corona demonstration in Gifhorn

According to the police, a demonstration with around 700 participants in Gifhorn resulted in two acts of resistance against emergency services.

Two officers were slightly injured as a result.

According to the information, criminal proceedings were initiated against the two accused.

According to the police, around 60 opponents of the applicable corona rules also gathered in Bremen on Monday evening.

But because the event was not registered, hundreds of police surrounded the participants.

A video of the Antifa counter-protest caused a stir on Twitter.

The police from several other cities in Lower Saxony reported unannounced gatherings, which, according to the officials, were largely peaceful.

But there were also reported meetings, such as in Hildesheim, where, according to the police, around 200 people met on Andreasplatz.

Lower Saxony district council calls for the end of the walks: the protection of the Constitution warns of the radicalization of corona deniers

The Lower Saxony District Association (NLT) called for an end to these demonstrations on Monday in view of the high number of infections.

"We now need all available capacities of the public administration to protect human life," said NTL General Manager Hubert Meyer.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution warned in advance of radical corona protests in Lower Saxony.

Interior Minister Boris Pistorius also spoke of a possible increase in violence from critics of the Corona requirements.

Although there are no concrete indications of attacks from the milieu, as with any radicalization, attacks cannot be ruled out, said the SPD politician.

IG Metall in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt also expressed their concern about protests by opponents of the vaccination campaign and the Corona rules.

District manager Thorsten Gröger and VW works council chief Daniela Cavallo warned: "Vaccination opponents, corona deniers and mask refusers are becoming increasingly radicalized."

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