BERLIN (AP) – Protesters in Germany clashed with police on Saturday over coronavirus measures, with officers using water cannons, pepper spray and batons against people trying to break down police barriers, the report said. German news agency dpa.
Protests were also reported against government measures to curb the pandemic in several European countries, including Austria, Britain, Finland, Romania and Switzerland.
More than 20,000 people took part in the protest in the German central city of Kassel, where there were also clashes between protesters and counter-protesters.
Thousands marched through the center of Kassel despite the judicial ban, and most did not comply with infection control protocols, such as putting on masks. Some protesters attacked officers and several journalists, the Dpa said.
Federal police, who were previously introduced from other parts of Germany, used water cannons and helicopters to control the crowds, the news agency reported.
Police said several people were arrested but did not give any numbers.
Several groups, mostly far-right opponents of government regulations to fight the pandemic, had called for protests on Saturday in cities across the country.
Virus infections have risen again in Germany in recent weeks and the government will decide next week how to react.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany will have to apply an “emergency brake” and reverse some recent restrictions on restrictions as coronavirus infections accelerate.
Germany’s national disease control center said new infections were growing exponentially as the most contagious COVID-19 variant first detected in Britain has become dominant in the country.
On Saturday, the Robert Koch Institute reported 16,033 new cases and recorded 207 additional deaths, bringing the death toll to 74,565 in Germany.
In Berlin, some 1,800 police officers were waiting for possible riots, but only about 500 protesters gathered at the gate of Brandenburg, the most iconic city. Meanwhile, about 1,000 citizens gathered on Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard to protest the far-right demonstration.
Protesters also took to the streets in other European cities. In London, protesters who opposed the closure of the UK for months challenged police who warned of possible fines and arrests for violating bans at most group meetings.
The rally came after more than 60 lawmakers signed a letter demanding the government change the law and allow protests to take place even when pandemic restrictions banned other types of meetings.
The letter, coordinated by civil rights groups Liberty and Big Brother Watch, continued that police broke about a vigil last weekend in honor of Sarah Everard, a woman who was abducted on her way home from London. A London police officer has been charged with her abduction and murder.
In Finland, police estimated that some 400 people without masks and wrapped together gathered in the capital, Helsinki, to protest restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 government. Smaller demonstrations were scheduled in other Finnish cities.
Before the Helsinki rally, about 300 people chanted slogans such as “Let people talk!” and carrying banners with phrases such as “Facts and numbers do not add up” they paraded through the streets of the city and ended up in the Parliament building.
Helsinki police tweeted that the recorded march and rally took place peacefully, but violated Finland’s social distancing requirements and current boundaries at public meetings.
More than a thousand anti-vaccine protesters took to the streets in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, amid a wave of COVID-19 infections.
The unmasked crowd honked horns, waved national flags and chanted messages such as “Block Vaccination” and “Freedom.” A banner read: “Parents, protect your children! Stop the fear! ”
The Romanian far-right party AUR has strongly supported a movement linked to nationalism that planned anti-vaccine demonstrations in recent weeks.
In Austria, some 1,000 protesters took part in a demonstration against government virus measures near Vienna’s central train station. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.
In Switzerland, more than 5,000 protesters gathered for a silent march in the community of Liestal, 15 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of the city of Basel, local media reported. Most wore no masks and some held banners with slogans such as “Vaccination kills.”
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Jari Tanner to Danica Kirka from London and Stephen McGrath to Bucharest (Romania) contributed to the communication.