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Participants in a demonstration against corona restrictions on February 12, 2022 in downtown Schwerin
Photo: Danny Gohlke / dpa
Thousands took to the streets in numerous cities in Germany on Saturday to express dissatisfaction with the measures taken to contain the corona pandemic.
From Flensburg in the north to Freiburg in the south, from Trier in the west to Cottbus in the east, they came together to protest, but counter-demonstrators also gathered in many places.
In Reutlingen, the police counted around 7,500 people in a so-called elevator and 1,000 in a stationary meeting. In Augsburg, the police counted around 4,300 participants in several elevators “at peak times”, in Freiburg and Berlin around 3,000 participants each, in Osnabrück 1,200. In Schwerin more than 600 demonstrators came together, in Erfurt around 150, in Salzgitter there was a motorcade with around 20 vehicles.
According to the police, the protests and counter-demonstrations were mostly peaceful.
Few incidents
In Ulm, the police are investigating a 32-year-old after an unannounced meeting on Friday evening because he had brought an ax and a gas mask.
As on Wednesday, an unregistered demonstration was broken up in Brandenburg an der Havel.
There had been several evictions, two participants had been taken into custody, the police reported.
Several groups of people were also identified by the police in Cottbus in the evening.
A police spokesman reported that people had been asked several times to end the gatherings.
According to a dpa reporter, a group of officials was surrounded.
Opponents of the corona measures in particular have been protesting again and again for weeks.
Tens of thousands are regularly on the move across the country.
The organizers often describe the events as so-called "walks" and do not register them with the authorities.
Several cities have banned such unannounced protests.
In the meantime, protests against these alleged "walks" have also increased.
In Berlin, the demonstrators marched from the Brandenburg Gate towards the main station on Saturday afternoon.
Slogans such as "Care with a heart, without compulsory vaccination" and "Freedom instead of fear" were shown on posters.
According to the organizers' Internet appeal, political symbols were "undesirable".
The protesters on the Internet are demanding "recognition of natural immunity", "an end to all measures" and a free vaccination decision.
Thousands again protested against the corona measures in Düsseldorf, the capital of the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
They met on the banks of the Rhine for a train through the city center.
On banners and posters, they opposed compulsory vaccination.
Parties such as the Greens and SPD Düsseldorf had called for counter-protests and wanted to show "lateral thinkers" red cards.
Several meeting points had been registered for this along the demonstration train.
dak/afxp
