More than 70,000 people demonstrate against Corona policy
Created: 01/17/2022Updated: 01/18/2022 01:04 AM
Participants in a demonstration against the Corona measures in Oranienburg (Brandenburg).
© Soeren Stache/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Tens of thousands took to the streets again on Monday.
Most protest against the guidelines for protection against Corona, others defend the measures.
The police are required first and foremost.
Berlin – As in the previous weeks, tens of thousands of people across Germany demonstrated against corona measures and possible vaccinations in the evening.
According to an estimate based on police information, this time there were more than 70,000.
The protests were accompanied by a large police presence and in some places by counter-demonstrations.
Meetings were broken up several times, for example in Rostock and Cottbus, because the police could not find a leader or because the mask requirement was violated and no mouth and nose protection was worn.
High number of participants
According to the police, 21,000 demonstrators against the Corona policy were counted in Thuringia alone, around 14,000 in Bavaria, 11,000 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, around 7,000 in Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Baden-Württemberg, around 4,000 in North Rhine-Westphalia and in Saxony and Berlin each about 3000.
Opponents of the Corona policy have been taking to the streets in many places for weeks.
They don't always announce or register the demonstrations.
Numerous cities have banned unannounced protests, also known as so-called walks.
In Berlin, one of the larger demos moved from Alexanderplatz in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate, where, according to the banner, “vaccinated and unvaccinated people opposed compulsory vaccination”.
Few people wore masks.
A loudspeaker car rang out: "Merkel, Spahn, Steinmeier, Drosten to jail".
The train stopped in front of the ZDF capital city studio for an intermediate rally.
A speaker insulted the "German media" that were "conformed" like in 1933.
According to initial information from the state police headquarters, more than 20,000 people attended meetings in numerous places in Thuringia.
The police also reported high numbers of participants from Baden-Württemberg, where more than 1,000 people took part in unregistered meetings in Rottweil, Ravensburg and Friedrichshafen.
In Saxony-Anhalt around 2,400 people were counted in Halle, in Lutherstadt Wittenberg 1,900, in Bitterfeld 1,100 and in Halberstadt around 1,000 people protested against the Corona measures.
Mood partly heated
According to the police, up to 1,200 people sometimes walked through the city center in a two-hour elevator in Bautzen, Saxony.
The officials did not intervene because, according to the operations manager, the distances had been maintained.
Pyrotechnics were detonated from the elevator.
According to Saxony's Corona Emergency Ordinance, meetings with 1000 people are currently allowed.
Participants in a rally against corona measures and those in a counter-demonstration face each other on the Neumarkt in Cologne.
© Henning Kaiser/dpa
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the atmosphere in the center of Rostock heated up after a meeting had been dissolved, and the police used water cannons at two intersections.
The demonstrators were surrounded.
An estimated dozen troublemakers were provisionally arrested by police officers.
A total of around 3,000 demonstrators and counter-demonstrators came together, in Schwerin around 2,400.
Citizens placed more than 1,500 candles on the Greifswald market to commemorate the corona dead in the north-east.
"We want to show that Corona is a reality," said the alliance "Greifswald for All".
In Cottbus, Brandenburg, the police broke up a demonstration with around 2,500 participants due to the lack of a leader.
In one case, the police had to use tear gas because of resistance.
The meeting participant tried to break through a police line.
Four people were taken into police custody.
Criminal charges were written, among other things, for insult, resistance against law enforcement officers, violation of the weapons law.
The identities of 175 people were identified for violating the Assembly Act and administrative offense proceedings were initiated.
Different camps
Meanwhile, around 1,000 opponents of the corona protection measures and participants in a counter-demonstration under the motto “Cologne is solidarity” met in downtown Cologne.
The different camps "loudly exchanged their opinions" on Neumarkt, said a police spokesman.
However, everything went without any incidents worth mentioning, the events were ended as planned before 9 p.m. by the respective leaders of the meeting.
more on the subject
Corona protests: tens of thousands on the road in Germany - scandal in front of the ZDF studio in Berlin
Corona demos: injured police officers and administrative offenses
Corona demos on Monday: police warn of peacefulness
The individual federal states have very different rules on the pandemic conditions under which unregistered meetings or so-called "walks" are tolerated - for example with a view to the number of participants.
dpa
