Corona demonstrations – between peaceful protest and outbreaks of violence

Thousands of people across Germany again demonstrated against Corona measures and vaccinations on Saturday. The largest demonstration was in Hamburg, where around 11,500 people took to the streets, as the police announced on Twitter. There were also demonstrations in Frankfurt am Main, Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf, among others. The protests were mostly peaceful – but there were isolated attacks on officials, journalists and demonstrators.

Corona demonstrators and opponents clash in northern Germany

According to the police, the demonstrators in downtown Hamburg mostly adhered to the conditions. A bottle was thrown in a physical confrontation between participants in the rally and outsiders. According to the police, an innocent woman was injured in connection with this incident. At the demonstration, the police said they were sent off a total of seven, temporarily arrested two people and took two more into custody. Several hundred people took part in several counter-demonstrations. A total of 800 police officers were on duty in the Hanseatic city.

In Bremen, the police had to intervene to prevent violent counter-demonstrators from attacking four alleged members of the lateral thinker movement. 40 to 60 demonstrators from the left-wing scene gathered in front of a restaurant and shouted “Nazis out”. When the four alleged opponents of the Corona measures left the restaurant under police protection and got into a taxi, bottles flew onto the taxi and a police car.

Attacks on police officers during a demonstration in Reutlingen

According to the police, after a move of around 1,000 demonstrators in Reutlingen, officials were assaulted when they stopped a group of protesters. The suspects were therefore temporarily arrested. Because one of the suspects complained of circulatory problems, the officers called for an ambulance. A total of 500 dismissals were issued.

In Hildesheim, according to the police, representatives of the press were massively harassed, jostled and insulted by a meeting participant at an unregistered meeting. Police officers were therefore surrounded by aggressive demonstrators, insulted and laughed at. The authorities then disbanded the gathering and initiated criminal proceedings for bodily harm in the alleged attack on the journalist.

Several thousand people demonstrated in Düsseldorf, the police said. Some carried posters with slogans like “Stay away from our children” or “Compulsory vaccination? No, thanks!”.

After several demonstrations in Freiburg, around 3500 people took part in a final protest march through the city center, according to the police. Only in isolated cases had to be expelled for violations of the mask requirement.

Proteste mit Grablichtern

In Koblenz, around 1800 people demonstrated against the corona measures with grave lights. In Karlsruhe around 900 people protested against compulsory vaccination and compulsory vaccination for nurses. According to the police, the rallies in both cities were largely peaceful and without disturbances.

There were also protests against corona measures in Wetzlar, Hesse, in which around a thousand people took part. According to the police, these included demonstrators from the right-wing spectrum.

In Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, according to the police, almost 2,000 people demonstrated under the motto “Fundamental rights are non-negotiable”.

In Hanover, several hundred vaccine skeptics and opponents of corona measures took to the streets, at the event “Vaccinated or not vaccinated – together against exclusion”, the police reported numerous violations of the assembly requirements.

The Thuringian police recorded nine meetings and so-called hygiene walks with 643 participants in the entire state. The officers collected the personal data of 345 people for fine proceedings and distributed hundreds of reprimands. In Greiz, the demonstrators had set up cardboard figures and protested peacefully; in neighboring Plauen, the officials said they encountered some violent protesters.