BERLIN (AP) – Protesters in Germany on Saturday confronted police about coronavirus measures, officers using water cannons, pepper spray and sticks against people trying to cross police barriers, German news agency dpa reported.
Protests against government measures to combat the pandemic have been reported in several other European countries, including Austria, the United Kingdom, Finland, Romania and Switzerland.
More than 20,000 people took part in the protest in the central German city of Kassel, where there were also clashes between protesters and counter-protesters.
Thousands marched through the city center of Kassel, despite a court ban, and most did not follow infection control protocols, such as wearing masks. Some protesters attacked officers and several journalists, the dpa said.
Federal police, who had previously been brought in from other parts of Germany, used water cannons and helicopters to control the crowds, the news agency reported.
Police said several people were detained but did not give any numbers.
Various groups, most of them far-right opponents of government regulations to combat the pandemic, called for protests in cities across the country on Saturday.
Virus infections have risen again in Germany in recent weeks, and the government will decide next week how to react.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany would have to apply an “emergency brake” and reverse some recent easing of restrictions as coronavirus infections accelerate.
Germany’s national disease control center says new infections are growing exponentially as the more contagious variant COVID-19 first detected in the UK has become dominant in the country.
On Saturday, the Robert Koch Institute reported 16,033 new cases and recorded an additional 207 deaths, bringing the total death toll to 74,565 in Germany.
In Berlin, about 1,800 police were waiting for possible riots, but only about 500 protesters gathered at the landmark gate of Brandenburg. Meanwhile, about 1,000 citizens gathered on Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard to protest the far-right demonstration.
Protesters also took to the streets in other European cities. In London, protesters who opposed the UK’s blockade on Monday defied police, who warned of potential fines and arrests for violating bans at most group meetings.
The demonstration came after more than 60 lawmakers signed a letter urging the government to change the law and allow protests even though pandemic restrictions prohibit other types of rallies.
The letter, coordinated by civil rights groups Liberty and Big Brother Watch, was aimed at police breaking about a vigil last weekend in honor of Sarah Everard, a woman who was abducted on her way home from London. A London police officer has been charged with kidnapping and killing her.
In Finland, police estimated that about 400 people without masks and tightly packed together gathered in the capital, Helsinki, to protest the government’s restrictions on COVID-19. Smaller demonstrations have been scheduled in other Finnish cities.
Prior to the Helsinki rally, about 300 people chanted slogans such as “Let people talk!” and carrying placards with expressions such as “Facts and figures do not gather” marched through the streets of the city, reaching the Parliament building.
Helsinki police wrote on Twitter that the march and the rally took place peacefully, but violated Finland’s social distancing requirements and current limits on public gatherings.
More than a thousand anti-vaccination protesters took to the streets in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, amid a wave of COVID-19 infections there.
The largely maskless crowd honked, waved national flags and chanted messages such as “Blocking Vaccination” and “Freedom.” A poster read: “Parents, protect your children! Stop the fear! ”
Romania’s far-right AUR party has strongly supported a nationalism movement that has planned anti-vaccination demonstrations in recent weeks.
In Austria, about 1,000 protesters took part in a demonstration against government measures against the virus near Vienna Central Station. Police reprimanded several protesters who did not wear masks and remained too close, the APA news agency reported.
In Switzerland, more than 5,000 protesters gathered for a silent march in the Liestal community, 15 kilometers southeast of Basel, local media reported. Most did not wear masks and some carried banners with slogans such as “Vaccination kills.”
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Jari Tanner in Danica Kirka in London and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania contributed to the reporting.