BERLIN (AP) – Protesters in Germany clashed with police on Saturday over coronavirus measures, in which officers used water cannons, pepper spray and batons against people trying to break police barriers, German news agency dpa reported.
Protests against government measures to contain the pandemic were also reported in several other countries in Europe, including Austria, Great Britain, Finland, Romania and Switzerland.
More than 20,000 people took part in the protest in the central German city of Kassel, where clashes also took place between the protesters and counter-protesters.
Thousands of people marched through the center of Kassel despite a court ban, and most did not adhere to infection control protocols, such as wearing face masks. Some protesters attacked officers and several journalists, Dpa said.
Federal police, brought in in advance from other parts of Germany, used water cannons and helicopters to keep the crowd under control, the news agency reported.
Police said several people were being held, but did not give any figures.
Several groups, most of them far-right opponents of government rules to combat the pandemic, had called for protests in cities across the country on Saturday.
Virus infections have increased again in Germany in recent weeks and the government will decide next week how to respond.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany will need to apply an “emergency brake” and reverse some recent relaxation of restrictions as coronavirus infections accelerate.
Germany’s National Disease Control Center said new infections grew exponentially as the more contagious COVID-19 variant first discovered in Britain 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 in Germany to 74,565.
In Berlin, about 1,800 police officers stood by for potential riots, but only about 500 protesters gathered at the city’s landmark Brandenburg Gate. Meanwhile, about 1,000 civilians gathered on the Unter den Linden boulevard in Berlin to protest the far-right demonstration.
Protesters also took to the streets in other cities in Europe. In London, protesters opposing the UK’s months-long lockdown defied police, which warned of possible fines and arrests for breaking bans at most group meetings.
The demonstration took place after more than 60 lawmakers signed a letter demanding that the government change the law and allow protests, even as pandemic restrictions make other types of gatherings impossible.
The letter, coordinated by civil rights groups Liberty and Big Brother Watch, followed police who broke a vigil last weekend in honor of Sarah Everard, a woman who was kidnapped while walking home in London. A London police officer has been charged with her kidnapping and murder.
In Finland, police estimated that about 400 people without masks and densely packed in the capital Helsinki gathered to protest the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the government. Smaller demonstrations were planned in other Finnish cities.
Before the Helsinki meeting, some 300 people sang slogans like “Let the People Speak!” and signs with phrases like “Facts and figures are not correct” marched through the city streets and came out at the parliament building.
Helsinki police tweeted that the recorded march and demonstration took place peacefully, but violated social distance requirements and current Finnish limits for public gatherings.
More than a thousand anti-vaccination protesters took to the streets in the Romanian capital of Bucharest amid a wave of COVID-19 infections there.
The largely maskless crowd honked their horns, waved national flags and chanted messages such as ‘Block vaccination’ and ‘Freedom’. A sign read: “Parents, protect your children! Stop the fear! “
Romania’s far-right AUR party has strongly supported a movement linked to nationalism that has been planning anti-vaccination demonstrations in recent weeks.
In Austria, about 1,000 protesters took part in a demonstration against the government’s virus measures near Vienna Central Station. Police chided several protesters for not wearing masks and staying too close to each other, APA news agency reported.
In Switzerland, more than 5,000 protesters gathered for a silent march in the community of Liestal, 15 kilometers southeast of the city of Basel, local media reported. Most didn’t wear masks, and some held up banners with slogans like “Vaccinate Kills.”
Jari Tanner in Danica Kirka from London and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania contributed to the reporting.