On Sunday afternoon, around 2000 anti-coronavirus protesters gathered in Alexanderplatz, local authorities reported. Demonstrations took place after restrictions in Berlin were tightened, as the coronavirus incidence rate rose to 122.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Image Credit: Ralf Steinberger via Creative Commons
According to a statement made by Berlin police on Twitter, many of the protestors were not wearing masks or adhering to social distancing rules. Among the protesters were said to be people who question the existence of the disease, as well as those espousing conspiracy theories.
The protest comes after more than 30,000 people demonstrated in Berlin against coronavirus restrictions on the 29th of August.
Berlin police reported that they prohibited the crowd from moving towards Friedrichshain, as the protestors had planned, due to their refusal to wear masks and maintain social distance.
Despite this, several hundreds of the anti-corona demonstrators were said to have gathered at Kosmos, a former cinema on Karl-Marx-Allee, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. The World Health Summit had been scheduled to take place at this venue on Sunday, but was held online due to Berlin’s rising coronavirus cases.
A counter demonstration took place near Kosmos, at Weberwiese U-Bahn station, where videos on Twitter appear to show protestors shouting “Nazis out”.
A further anti-corona demonstration, which was planned to attract more than 10,000 protestors to the Tiergarten, Berlin’s largest inner-city park, was cancelled by authorities on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Angela Merkel, speaking this weekend of the coronavirus pandemic in Germany, has warned that difficult months are to come, according to German media reports.
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