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BERLIN (AP) – German police fired water cannons on Wednesday at protesters protesting coronavirus restrictions in Berlin’s government quarter, after crowds ignored calls to wear masks and stay away from one another others in accordance with pandemic regulations.
As cannons drenched protesters outside the Brandenburg Gate, police in riot gear moved through the crowd, carrying some participants away. Some protesters launched fireworks and flares in response as police helicopters hovered above their heads.
The protests came as German lawmakers debated a bill providing the government with a legal basis to enact social distancing rules, demand masks in public stores and shut down shops and other places to slow the spread of the disease. virus. While such measures are supported by most Germans, a vocal minority have staged regular rallies across the country arguing that the restrictions are unconstitutional.
The measures should be adopted both by the lower house and then by the upper house of parliament and be promptly signed by the German president.
Health Minister Jens Spahn defended the measures, telling lawmakers that authorities “struggle every day to try to find a balance” between restrictions and safeguarding democratic freedoms.
But he insisted that Germany had found the right path, noting that it had done much better than many of its European neighbors.
“Where would you rather be than in Germany,” he told lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which criticized the lockdown measures.
Overall, the country has recorded 833,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 13,000 confirmed deaths from the virus in the pandemic, a toll of a quarter of that of Britain.
Spahn also praised the efforts of German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which, along with Pfizer, is leading the race to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, and denied that there would be mandatory inoculation.
German authorities said Tuesday they had banned a series of protests directly outside the Parliament building due to security concerns, and fences were put up around a large area, including the Bundestag and parliamentary offices in nearby, the Federal Chancellery and the Presidential Residence and Offices.
Outside the metal cords, protesters gathered early Wednesday near the Brandenburg Gate, on streets and bridges. The protesters came from all walks of life, ranging from the far left to the far right, while also including families, students and others.
“We want to find our lives,” read a sign carried by the demonstrators. Another said: “Put the banks under surveillance, not the citizens”. One protester held up a flag with a photo of incumbent US President Donald Trump and an image invoking the right-wing ‘QAnon’ conspiracy theory, while another held a sign showing German virologist Christian Drosten in prison gear with the word ” guilty”.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas reacted strongly to accusations by some protesters that the measures amounted to the “enabling law” of 1933, which allowed the Nazis to pass laws without approval. of Parliament.
“Everyone, of course, has the right to criticize the measures, our democracy thrives on the exchange of different opinions,” he wrote on Twitter. “But anyone who relativizes or trivializes the Holocaust has learned nothing from our history.”
A protest earlier this month in the eastern city of Leipzig ended in chaos when thousands of protesters challenged police orders to wear masks and, later, disperse. Some participants attacked police and journalists.
Local authorities have come under fire for acting too slowly and not having enough force to break through the crowds in Leipzig, which allowed the situation to spiral out of control.
Berlin police said they had already made several citations on Wednesday for breaking regulations on wearing masks, but their calls for people to wear protective gear and keep each other away from each other were widely ignored. Police said the order had now been given to detain those violating the regulations.
“If that doesn’t help, the only solution left is to break up the rally,” police said on Twitter.
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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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