Corona: Thousands of people protest in the Bundestag against the Infection Protection Act

METERA few thousand people demonstrated against the crown’s restrictions on further changes to the Infection Protection Act on Wednesday in the Berlin government district before the Bundestag session began.

According to the police, they gathered in the morning around the closed Reichstag building and the Republic Square in front of it. The mood has been calm so far, a police spokesman said. The Berlin “Tagesspiegel” reported a number of participants of 5000 people by Wednesday morning, and also referred to the police.

It is unclear how many protesters will come in total. According to the police, it could be from several thousand to more than ten thousand. There are provisions like wear mouth and nose protection and keeping your distance.

However, on-site observers repeatedly report on participants who do not adhere to these guidelines. The police issued because also 30 ads for lack of masks. Shortly after 11 am said by operations management, that in case of repeated violations, the event could also be dissolved. It was also noted that the chief of operations would place a water cannon on Straße des 17. Junis.

Meanwhile, AfD member of the Bundestag Karsten Hilse reported on a dispute that apparently also flared due to the lack of a mask.

Greetings gently in a videothat he was approached by the police because he was walking without a mask. He carried with him a medical certificate that released him from the mask requirement. However, the police complained that no specific illness was listed. When he wanted to make a video, there was a physical discussion.

Later, the videos of it circulated on the Twitter online service. The 55-year-old said it seemed “absurd” for someone to react in this way for an administrative violation. The Berlin police press office did not initially have any information about the incident.

2,000 officers are deployed, including support from nine other federal states and the federal police.

Berlin police expect a “gigantic task”

Berlin Police Union spokesman Benjamin Jendro told Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg that recent demonstrations in Leipzig and Frankfurt had shown how quickly these demonstrations escalate and how quickly the police can become defenseless. “It will be a gigantic task today. The meeting we are talking about at the moment is a different meeting than the one usually held by the Berlin police, ”said Jendro.

That is why it will be very important to have a talent for improvisation in place. The Berlin police are experienced enough to control the situation.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior banned several demonstrations registered directly in front of the Reichstag building in the so-called pacified district. Therefore, the police extensively cordoned off the area. Apparently, there was police protection for the capital studies of ZDF and ARD. Several Twitter users posted under the hashtag b1811 about the demonstration, some of them also shared or reported photos of police officers in front of the studios of special admission controls.

There were also numerous calls on the Internet not to register the demonstrations in advance, but to spontaneously drive to Berlin and protest in the Bundestag. The police spoke of a “high mobilization”.

FDP chief Lindner turns to Corona’s critics

FDP leader Christian Lindner criticized the planned reform of the Infection Protection Act shortly before its passage.

The bill is “basically a blank check” for the government, as it does not specify “what the government can or can do in a given situation,” Lindner said Wednesday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. Neither “legal clarity” or “state predictability” is created.

Lindner called for clear legal “safety barriers” to government intervention in the event of a pandemic. He referred to difficult discussions between the federal and state governments on Monday, which ended with the postponement of concrete decisions on new corona measures. Such “somewhat chaotic discussions” could be avoided by clear legal requirements.

The FDP also wants to introduce “information obligations” for the government to the Bundestag, Lindner added. The government must periodically explain its crisis strategy.

The head of the FDP rejected allegations that criticism of the Infection Protection Act reform was a grain of sand for crown deniers. “You have to draw clear lines.”

On the one hand there are criticisms related to the content, on the other hand there are statements by Corona deniers, right-wing extremists and Reich citizens. Addressing all critics of Corona’s measures, Lindner said: “Pay attention to the society you are in.” He outlined legal reform compared to the Nazi Enabling Act, as it draws the Alternative for Germany (AfD), for example. absolutely excessive and absurd ”.

However, Gregor Gysi of the Die Linke party was also critical. The wrote on Twitter: “Today I am voting against the Federal Government’s Infection Protection Law. The Bundestag cannot transfer the reins of the action to the Federal Government ”.

However, the Greens passed the new version of the Infection Protection Act. “Now it is really a real legal basis for the measures,” said parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt of the RTL / ntv program “Frühstart”. The Greens could have envisioned further “concretization”, but now they have a “clear time limit” for the measures.

Spahn defended the draft of the Infection Protection Act

The Bundestag should vote on the reform at noon. In the afternoon, the Federal Council will also discuss the bill in a special session. Protective measures against the corona pandemic are expected to have a more secure legal basis. The text of the law contains a catalog of possible protection measures against infection, including contact restrictions, business closures, and the obligation to use oral and nasal protection.

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) defended the draft on Bavarian radio. “We are moving from the general clause to a descriptive list, to classification, proportionality issues,” he said. “And that is exactly what critics have understandably demanded in recent weeks, that after so many months of the pandemic, the legal basis must also be differentiated.”