Thousands of people demonstrated on Monday against coronavirus restrictions in Germany. Germany has imposed restrictions on private gatherings and barred spectators from public events ahead of New Year celebrations. The German parliament also approved a vaccine mandate for medical staff earlier this month.
Eastern states see most protests
Police in the northeastern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state reported that a total of 15,000 protesters took to the streets in various towns. According to police in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, around nine criminal charges of resisting arrest, bodily harm, damage to property and the use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations were handed out to protesters. Protesters expressed anger over Germany’s latest restrictions on private gatherings In the eastern state of Brandenburg, around 9,000 demonstrators protested, according to the police. In the city of Halle in the eastern Saxony-Anhalt state, there were around 1,500 demonstrators, police said. In the town of Bautzen in Saxony, police were attacked with fireworks and pelted with bottles as they attempted to break up the crowd. Police were also deployed to break up gatherings in the two most populous Saxonian cities, Dresden and Leipzig. Some 2,000 people demonstrated in the city of Gera in the central state of Thuringia, and around 1,300 rallied in the nearby Altenburg, police reported. Despite low temperatures and icy roads, anti-COVID measures protesters have continued to take to the streets
Protesters sentenced over violent demonstrations
In the Bavarian town of Schweinfurt, three protesters received suspended prison sentences on Monday, while a fourth person was fined by the local court. During a protest on Sunday, eight police officers and several participants of the rally were injured, including a four-year-old child. Two men received suspended sentences of 12 and 8 months for resisting arrest, assault and bodily harm or attempted bodily harm. A woman received a six month suspended prison sentence for resisting arrest and assaults on law enforcement Germany is currently grappling with a fifth wave of COVID-19 cases, spurred on by the more transmissible omicron variant of the virus. The omicron variant has been detected in all of Germany’s 16 states. sdi/fb (AFP, dpa)