Pandemic: protests against corona measures and counter-demonstrations

In many German cities, numerous people took to the streets again in connection with the Corona measures. According to the police, it was mostly peaceful.

A total of around 23,000 people demonstrated in Thuringia, the police said. Around 2,000 people each came together in Gera, Gotha and Altenburg. The protests were directed either against the Corona policy or against the opponents of the measures. There were no major incidents. Only in Jena did pepper spray have to be used when an elevator was blocked, the police said. Most of the 93 meetings were not registered.

Several thousand people also took to the streets in Saxony. In the districts of Görlitz and Bautzen alone, there were a total of around 13,900 people, according to the police. The meetings there were largely peaceful. In Dresden, an investigation was launched against three people who were part of a group that took to the streets against the protest march of opponents of the Corona policy. In addition, according to the police, critics of the measures and participants in the counter-protest clashed in Leipzig. According to the information, the police formed chains and thus prevented an escalation.

Demos in Bavaria – numerous counteractions

In Bavaria, well over 10,000 people protested at around 200 meetings across the country, according to a survey at police headquarters. “Everything peaceful,” it said in the evening. In some cases, however, there were violations of the mask requirement. Around 4,500 people demonstrated against the Corona measures in Nuremberg, and in Ansbach the police reported around 3,000 participants. Around 1,000 people took part in a demonstration against “conspiracy myths and right-wing hate speech” in Bamberg. There were similar demonstrations elsewhere, but with significantly fewer participants.

According to the police, around 8,000 participants came together in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to protest against the corona measures, slightly fewer than in previous weeks. Overall, the police there secured actions in around 25 cities. At almost all protest events, the mandatory vaccinations that had already been decided for people in the health professions and a possible general mandatory vaccination were criticized in particular. “We work with heart, not with compulsory vaccination,” said banners in Neubrandenburg. Counter-actions took place in numerous cities.

In Baden-Württemberg, too, thousands demonstrated against the Corona policy. In Pforzheim, a police spokesman reported around 2,500 demonstrators, in Mannheim around 1,000 people took part.

According to the police, hundreds of people took to the streets in Brandenburg against the Corona policy. In Bernau (Barnim), a police officer and a 57-year-old demonstrator were slightly injured. According to a police spokesman, the officer who wanted to block a path was pushed.

Commemoration of Corona dead in Wolfsburg

Thousands of people were also on the streets in Lower Saxony – mainly in protest against the corona measures. In Hanover, according to initial police estimates, the number of participants in the evening was in the three-digit range. Meanwhile, around 180 people gathered in front of the town hall in Wolfsburg to commemorate the corona dead. In the end, they formed a human chain together on the town hall square.

There were also demonstrations in Saxony-Anhalt. According to the police, around 3,000 people took part in a protest march in Halle. In Magdeburg, the police broke up a meeting with around 850 demonstrators. According to the police, the attempted march through the city center was limited with locks and attempts to break through were prevented.

According to the police, around 3,500 people took part in a protest against the restrictions in Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein). Around 350 people formed a human chain around the town hall at the same time to protest against vaccination opponents and corona deniers.