Germany: anti-Covid protests lead to attempted assault on parliament

The far-right extremists tried to storm the German parliament building after a protest against the country’s pandemic restrictions, but were intercepted by police and forcibly expelled.

The incident occurred after a day-long rally by tens of thousands of people who opposed the use of masks and other government measures aimed at stopping the spread of the new coronavirus.

The police ordered the protesters to break up midway through their march around Berlin after participants refused to observe social distancing rules, but a demonstration took place near the capital’s iconic Brandenburg Gate. as planned.

Footage from the incident showed hundreds of people, some waving the 1871-1918 German Reich flag and other far-right banners, running towards the Reichstag building and climbing the stairs.

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Police confirmed on Twitter that several people had walked through a cordon in front of Parliament and “entered the stairs of the Reichstag building, but not the building itself.”

“They threw rocks and bottles at our colleagues,” police said. “Force had to be used to drive them back.”

Germany’s top security official condemned the incident.

“The Reichstag building is the workplace of our Parliament and therefore the symbolic center of our liberal democracy,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement.

“It is unbearable that vandals and extremists do it wrong,” he said, calling on the authorities to show “zero tolerance.”

Earlier, thousands of far-right extremists had thrown bottles and stones at the police in front of the Russian embassy. Police detained about 300 people throughout the day.

The Berlin regional government had tried to ban the protests, warning that extremists could use them as a platform and citing anti-mask demonstrations earlier this month where rules aimed at preventing the virus from spreading further were not adhered to.

The protest organizers successfully appealed the decision, although a court ordered them to guarantee social distancing. Failure to do so prompted the Berlin police to break up the march while it was still ongoing.

During the march, which authorities said drew some 38,000 people, participants voiced opposition to a wide range of issues, including vaccines, masks and the German government in general.

Some wore T-shirts promoting the “QAnon” conspiracy theory, while others displayed white nationalist slogans and neo-Nazi insignia, although most of the participants denied having far-right views.

Uwe Bachmann, 57, said he had come from southwestern Germany to protest freedom of expression and his right not to wear a mask.

“I respect those who fear the virus,” said Bachmann, who wore a costume and wig that attempted to evoke the stereotypical dress of Native Americans. He suggested, without elaborating, that “something else” was behind the pandemic.

Another protester said he wanted to abolish Germany’s current political system and revert to the 1871 constitution on the grounds that the country’s post-war political system was illegal. Providing only his first name, Karl-Heinz, he had traveled with his sister from their home near the Dutch border to attend the protest and believed that the coronavirus cases being reported in Germany were now “false positives”.

Germany has seen a spike in new cases in recent weeks. The country’s disease control agency reported on Saturday that Germany had nearly 1,500 new infections during the previous day.

Germany has been praised for the way it has handled the pandemic, and the country’s death toll of some 9,300 people is less than a quarter of the number of people who have died from Covid-19 in Britain. Opinion polls show overwhelming support for prevention measures imposed by the authorities, such as the requirement to wear masks on public transport, in shops and in some public buildings such as libraries and schools.

Along the route there were several smaller counter-protests where participants shouted slogans against the presence of the extreme right in the demonstration against the masks.

“I think there is a line and if someone takes to the streets with neo-Nazis, then they have crossed it,” said Verena, a counter-protester from Berlin who refused to give her last name.

Meanwhile, a few hundred people demonstrated in eastern Paris to protest the new mask rules and other restrictions triggered by the rise in virus infections in France. The police watched closely but did not intervene.

The protesters did not have a central organizer, but included people in yellow vests who previously protested economic injustice, others who promoted conspiracy theories and those who call themselves “Anti-mask.”

France has not seen an anti-masking movement like other countries. Masks are now required across the public in Paris, as authorities warn infections are growing exponentially just as schools are ready to resume classes.

France recorded more than 7,000 new virus infections in a single day on Friday (Saturday New Zealand time), up from several hundred a day in May and June, thanks in part to increased testing. It has the third highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe after Britain and Italy, with more than 30,600 deaths.

In London, hundreds of people crowded Trafalgar Square for a “United for Freedom” protest against government lockdown restrictions and the use of face masks.

The Metropolitan Police warned protesters that anyone who attends a gathering of more than 30 people may be at risk of committing a crime.

Angela Charlton in Paris and Silvia Hui in London contributed to this report.