NBC News:
Protesters hold a banner reading “Please, Mr. President, Make Germany Great Again!” during demonstrations against coronavirus measures by the German government in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday.
Thousands of protesters, some waving flags with the symbol of the QAnon movement, gathered in the German capital Berlin on Saturday to demonstrate against social restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Some carried signs reading “Stop the corona lies” and “End the plandemic immediately,” suggesting that COVID-19 was an artificial, planned event.
Others carried the black, white and red Reich flag, a symbol of “Reich citizens” who reject the legitimacy of the modern German state and have been linked to right-wing and antisemitic positions.
Berlin’s regional government had sought to ban the protest, citing similar rallies earlier this month where rules intended to stop the virus being spread weren’t respected.
But protest organizers successfully appealed the decision, though a court ordered them to ensure social distancing — a measure that Berlin police said wasn’t being enforced Saturday, after demonstrators started marching around 9 a.m. local time (12 a.m. ET).
More than 3,000 police officers were on the streets of central Berlin and said a water cannon would be used if necessary, as they braced for violence as demonstrators left from the Brandenburg Gate.
“These are people who are opposed to corona (measures), so we assume they have in recent months exercised absolutely no caution,” Berlin police president Barbara Slowik said ahead of the protest.
EDITOR’s NOTE – Will covid hospitalizations spike after this? The world is watching.
