Officials in Berlin banned demonstrations against coronavirus prevention measures, calling the protests even a violation of social distance rules.
Authorities noted one protest that occurred on August 1, in which protesters defeated measures such as social distancing and demands for masks, reported The Associated Press.
That protest against pandemic measures caused nearly 15,000 marchers in the street, with protesters holding signs reading “Corona, false alarm” and singing “We are here and we are loud because we are robbed of our freedom. “
“We must weigh the fundamental right of freedom of assembly against the sanctity of life,” said Andreas Geisel, Berlin’s top security official. “We have chosen life.”
Georg Pazderski, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, criticized the ban, saying it was disproportionate and unfair.
An organizer of one of the protests said it would try to appeal the ban.
Berlin’s health minister, Jens Spahn, announced on Wednesday that the city’s mandatory COVID-19 testing will end in areas at high risk abroad to focus on testing people with symptoms or possible exposure to the disease.
“With the end of the holiday season, this risk goes down again,” Spahn told reporters, according to the AP. “We need to focus more on patients with symptoms and those who have had contact with COVID patients.”
Spahn did not say what day the new strategy would begin, but the details are likely to be announced Thursday after a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, the country has registered 238,879 infections and 9,285 deaths since the pandemic began this year.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control reported 1,576 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, up from 1,278 the previous day.
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