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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the attempted invasion of Parliament in Berlin on Saturday at the end of the day by right-wing radicals and coronavirus skeptics as “an unbearable attack on the heart of our democracy.” Continue a demonstration against the restrictions in force by covid-19, for not respecting the rules of social distance.
“It is unacceptable for people to appear in front of the Bundestag building, the most important symbol of our democracy, the Parliament, with symbols of our black past, flags that have nothing to do with our modern democracy,” said the finance minister. , Olaf Scholz, the candidate for chancellor of the Social Democrats (SPD)
Heiko Maas, the foreign minister, was more concise: “It is a shame to see the Reich flags next to the German Parliament.”
The city-state government had argued that in a previous demonstration, on August 1, the physical distance rules in force to contain the pandemic were not followed, to prohibit it. Organizers appealed the ban and won on Friday, but the court imposed conditions, including physical distance, with barriers to guarantee it and a requirement that people be repeatedly asked to keep their distance over megaphones. .
The Secretary General of the SPD, Lars Klingbeil, was surprised that the German secret services did not receive warnings that “extreme right-wing extremists were infiltrating this demonstration”, quotes Deutsche Welle.
Some 300 participants in the Berlin demonstration were arrested on Saturday, when police dispersed the protest, because people did not wear masks or stay away from each other. Some 38,000 people gathered at various points in the German capital and the police pointed out several places where there had been disturbances in the order.
At a time when new coronavirus infections are increasing across Europe and frustration is mounting with measures to contain the virus, there were also small demonstrations in London, Paris and Lisbon.
