Thousands gather in Berlin to protest against Covid-19 restrictions
BERLIN,Germany.(News of the South)- Thousands Germans gathered at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate for a sit-in on Saturday to protest against the German government’s coronavirus restrictions.
By Antonnate S. Mugodi
People took to the streets early in the morning for their march and were criticized by the police because they were not adhering to the rules of always wearing face masks and also practicing social distancing.
‘Day of Freedom – The End of the Pandemic’, which is what they called the march, included anti-vaccine groups and some far-right and neo-Nazi organizations.
Most of the protesters that attended the event were unmasked and some were heard yelling “we are the second wave”.
German Coronavirus guidelines say that people must maintain a 1.5 meter social distance from each other or people should just wear their face masks.
Berlin police tweeted:”Our colleagues are using loud speakers to urge the adherence to the rules. We are also documenting non-compliance for possible later prosecution.”
They added that a criminal complaint was filed against one of the march organizers for not adhering to rules that they were given for their hygiene.
About 17 000 protesters participated in the march were warned by the police that they will be allowed to do their march if they practice social distancing and keep their masks on at all times.
Most of the people at the march are noted to have had no masks on, although the master of ceremony had addressed the crowd and told them of the rules that they were supposed to adhere to.
Health authorities recorded 955 new coronavirus infections in a 24-hour span in German for the first time since the beginning of May, according to the German Agency for Disease Control and Prevention.
This data reflects Friday’s numbers but was published Saturday morning and the last a number of high coronavirus cases was recorded in Germany was in May.
The blame for the rise in these cases is being put on travelers that are returning from abroad and those that are failing to always maintain social distancing and hygiene rules.
Peter Altmaier, Germany’s economic minister said the new numbers are very much alarming.
“Especially since it is not large ‘hot spots’ but smaller clusters of infections. The main risks need to clearly be named so that a more targeted prevention becomes possible,” he said.
All those that will be traveling to Germany will be getting free coronavirus tests up to 72 hours of arrival as per Germany’s health ministry’s request.
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