Protesters take to streets across Germany in anger at new Covid restrictions
Protesters marched through dozens of German cities on Monday evening in opposition to new restrictions brought in by the government to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.
The largest protest took place in the port city of Rostock on the Baltic coast, where some 6,500 people turned out to voice their anger at the closing of cinemas, theatres and other leisure venues in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The measures were introduced on Monday after the federal government and the states agreed that new restrictions were needed to slow the spread of the more contagious Omicron variant.
Some 15,000 people are estimated to have taken to the streets on Monday in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to voice their opposition to the restrictions.
In the town of Bauzen, in Saxony, protesters attacked police with fireworks, leading to ten officers suffering injuries. Police had attempted to stop a protest from marching down a street leading to what they described as a “massive” assault with fireworks and bottles.
Further violent escalations were reported in Mannheim and Ravensburg in the south of Germany. In Pirmasens on the border to France, two demonstrators attacked a police unit after being told to wear face masks.
The GdP police union said that its officers were being put under too much strain by the need to control the demonstrations and were “ignoring other important aspects of police work such as traffic controls.”
GdP spokesman Oliver Malchow said that this imbalance in officers’ work would lead to “police increasingly being an object of public anger.”
Gerd Landsberg, head of the association of local governments, said that state authorities needed to “take a clear position against the anti-vaxxers. Carrying out traffic controls isn’t as important.”
On Tuesday eight further states brought in contact restrictions that mean that vaccinated people are only allowed to meet nine other people at one time indoors. If an unvaccinated person is the household, tougher rules apply.
The states that introduced the rules on Tuesday include Berlin, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hessen.
READ MORE: Multiple German states tighten Covid rules ahead of New Year
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The largest protest took place in the port city of Rostock on the Baltic coast, where some 6,500 people turned out to voice their anger at the closing of cinemas, theatres and other leisure venues in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The measures were introduced on Monday after the federal government and the states agreed that new restrictions were needed to slow the spread of the more contagious Omicron variant.
Some 15,000 people are estimated to have taken to the streets on Monday in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to voice their opposition to the restrictions.
In the town of Bauzen, in Saxony, protesters attacked police with fireworks, leading to ten officers suffering injuries. Police had attempted to stop a protest from marching down a street leading to what they described as a “massive” assault with fireworks and bottles.
Further violent escalations were reported in Mannheim and Ravensburg in the south of Germany. In Pirmasens on the border to France, two demonstrators attacked a police unit after being told to wear face masks.
The GdP police union said that its officers were being put under too much strain by the need to control the demonstrations and were “ignoring other important aspects of police work such as traffic controls.”
GdP spokesman Oliver Malchow said that this imbalance in officers’ work would lead to “police increasingly being an object of public anger.”
Gerd Landsberg, head of the association of local governments, said that state authorities needed to “take a clear position against the anti-vaxxers. Carrying out traffic controls isn’t as important.”
On Tuesday eight further states brought in contact restrictions that mean that vaccinated people are only allowed to meet nine other people at one time indoors. If an unvaccinated person is the household, tougher rules apply.
The states that introduced the rules on Tuesday include Berlin, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hessen.
READ MORE: Multiple German states tighten Covid rules ahead of New Year
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