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BERLIN (DPA) – Thousands of people took to the streets of Berlin on Sunday despite the ban on several demonstrations, including those from the Querdenken (Lateral Thinking) movement which is sceptical of the German government’s anti-coronavirus measures.
Up to 5,000 people protested throughout the city, including in the Charlottenburg, Schoeneberg, Mitte and Kreuzberg districts.
There were several clashes between protesters and police, who deployed water cannon at the Victory Column in the centre of the Tiergarten park.
Around 600 people were arrested or temporarily detained in order to take personal details, according to a police spokesperson.
Helicopters circled above, monitoring the different groups of protesters scattered throughout the capital.
According to police reports, people repeatedly tried to break through barriers. “In individual cases, physical force had to be used,” said a police spokesperson.
In the morning, several hundred people had gathered near the Olympic Square in the west of the capital. More than 2,200 police officers were deployed. There were also larger protests at the Victory Column.
A rally by the initiative Querdenken 711 had originally been planned on the central boulevard that runs through the Tiergarten, June 17 Street, for which about 22,500 participants had been registered.
However, the Berlin police had banned the rally and a number of other protests because they feared violations of the anti-coronavirus hygiene regulations.
The police issued expulsions and also stopped a tour bus and seized technology, a spokesperson said.
The police spokesperson told dpa that the groups had repeatedly come together across the city and the “potential for aggression” had varied. Police officers were also injured, but he did not give an exact number or further details. According to Twitter, the police also used irritants and batons.
People protested in various groups, demanding “End the Coronavirus Dictatorship,” holding banners such as “No Test: No Pandemic.”
Others used whistles, flags, drums or chants such as “Peace, freedom, democracy” and “We are the people.” Some carried balloons in the shape of hearts.
“We have been preparing for a very energy-sapping operation this entire weekend,” said the police spokesperson. Asked about police tactics and why people had managed to gather, he said, “The police are required to use a sense of proportion.”
People had also moved out of areas popular among tourists and gathered in their hundreds before the police called on them to move on.
Later on Sunday, many people gathered at Alexanderplatz. Police asked them to leave, and some were detained or led away.
The spokesperson for Querdenken 711, Michael Ballweg, had said on Sunday that his initiative accepted the ban on the demonstration but added that freedom cannot be banned. “People are now standing up for their basic rights on their own. And the gatherings will still take place.”
At the same time, Ballweg criticised the ban and said that a coordinated assembly with constraints, stewards and de-escalation teams would have been safer.
In an internal “emergency plan,” the initiative had called for people to come to Berlin even in the event of a ban. Exactly one year ago, on August 1, a major demonstration was held in Berlin opposing coronavirus measures.
Bundestag President Wolfgang Schaeuble had previously sharply attacked the Querdenken scene.
“If practically all experts worldwide say that coronavirus is dangerous and vaccination helps, who then actually has the right to say: but I am smarter? For me, that is an almost unbearable level of arrogance,” Schaeuble told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.
“Please look at the scientific findings, don’t let yourself be led astray by cheap slogans!” he appealed
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