The protest against the crown rules is ongoing – and counter-demonstrations | NDR.de – Nachrichten – Lower Saxony

Status: 12.09.2020 2:45 pm – NDR 1 Lower Saxony

Around 550 protesters set out in the early afternoon to protest in Hanover against regulations to contain the corona pandemic. According to the police, there are two counter-demonstrations on the street: some 200 participants have also gathered in Waterloo Square; In addition, another hundred protesters are at the Göttinger Sieben site in what the police said was a “spontaneous meeting”. So far there have been no special incidents, only minor incidents, a police spokesman for NDR.de said in the afternoon.

Only with a mask in the demo

Occasionally, participants in protests against the crown’s rules did not comply with the mandatory mask requirement. The Hannover Administrative Court had previously rejected an urgent request from Corona opponents against the police requirements. There is an epidemic situation of national scope, therefore the conditions are proportionate, so the court. All participants would have to wear mouth and nose protection; they also had to maintain a minimum distance of one and a half meters, and even five meters from the speakers.

Pandemic “overrated”?

A rally is planned for the afternoon at Georgsplatz. Organizers had described the crown pandemic as “overrated”: it would intimidate citizens and enforce a dictatorship. The protection of the constitution, Bernhard Witthaut, called on the people to be careful who they join the anti-crown demonstration. “Do not allow yourself to be turned into tools by extremists who have completely different things in mind to protest against the measures of the crown,” Witthaut told NDR Lower Saxony. It cannot be ruled out that right-wing extremists and citizens of the Reich occasionally mingle with the demonstration. However, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has not yet been able to determine any direct mobilization, according to Witthaut.

Police on the spot with large number

At a similar demonstration in Berlin two weeks ago, right-wing extremists and citizens of the Reich tried storm the Reichstag building. By Saturday lunchtime there were already a large number of policemen on the scene in Hannover: about a dozen police cars were parked in front of the state parliament, 15 officers were standing right in front of the door of the parliament building. In other places in the state capital, too, the police were present with great force, among other things with an equestrian squad.