The rally participants were beating drums and chanting slogans such as "Peace, freedom, no dictatorship!" and "We demand the unrestricted restoration of the right to demonstrate."
In many cases, the unauthorized processions quickly descended into violence as police in full riot gear attempted to block the crowds from marching along the city streets. Some 600 people have been arrested, according to a police spokesman citing preliminary data.
"The strategy is to wake up. The sleepers need to wake up. We are losing our freedom. We just run," one protester told the German Die Welt daily. Most participants were not wearing face masks and were ignoring the social-distancing rules that are still in place in Germany.
The marching crowds broke through the chains of police on several occasions, prompting a heavy-handed response, as officers were seen brutally grabbing some protesters and throwing them to the ground. On several occasions, the officers ran to chase people through the streets.
Polizei überfordert: #Querdenker überrennen Einsatzkräfte Richtung Berliner Innenstadt. #b0108 #Querdenken @WELT pic.twitter.com/s7pV5UJx6M
— Martin Heller (@Ma_Heller) August 1, 2021
Videos published by RT's video agency Ruptly as well as footage that has surfaced on social media showed police officers sometimes engaging in brutal fist fights with demonstrators, as well as punching them in the gut and kicking them. On one such occasion, the officers clashed with a group of elderly women.Bodycheck, Faust und Pfefferspray. Konsequentes Vorgehen der Polizei gegen #Querdenken in Berlin. #b0108 @WELT pic.twitter.com/ABs6XJgqxR
— Martin Heller (@Ma_Heller) August 1, 2021
Another video showed a police officer hitting a teenage boy in the face as he was lying on the ground.Polizei vs. Seniorinnen. Rangeleien Heerstr./Jaffestr. Und Wortgefechte. #Berlin #Querdenken #b0108 @WELT pic.twitter.com/5CFyg65QUr
— Martin Heller (@Ma_Heller) August 1, 2021
Punching little children. German police #Berlin pic.twitter.com/4EN9uBCDHH
— ㋡X𝓡ᵖ𝔞𝐮Ĺ_ⓓ.𝒸.💯🚀 (@matrix_explorer) August 1, 2021
In the city's west, a group of protesters "tried to break the police chain and pull colleagues out," the Berlin police said on Twitter, adding that "irritants, batons and physical violence were used." The officers also made numerous arrests as the police tried to "filter out" suspected "ringleaders" of the protest. There have been no reports about any demonstrators or police officers seriously injured in the scuffles.
On many occasions, police appeared to be greatly outnumbered by the demonstrators. The officers were virtually unable to stop the dense crowds despite attempts to push people back. Sometimes, such attempts quickly spiraled into intense clashes between law-enforcement officers and protesters.
Ich sag mal so: weiträumige Vorkontrollen. #b0108 pic.twitter.com/kQLFITAACt
— Axel Lier ✏️ (@Reporter_Flash) August 1, 2021
Berlin's police spokeswoman, however, told German media that violence was used only in "individual" cases. Some 2,250 police officers were deployed to the city's streets as helicopters were hovering over the city. Water cannon were used in several places in Berlin, according to German media.#Germany🇩🇪:Protest in Berlin, against coronavirus restrictions and urging to "restore people's fundamental rights". Counter-protests by opposing groups are also expected to be held in the city.
— Wᵒˡᵛᵉʳᶤᶰᵉ Uᵖᵈᵃᵗᵉˢ𖤐 (@W0lverineupdate) August 1, 2021
Berlin court has already banned anti-lockdown demonstrations. pic.twitter.com/KBJFNt17zq
Various anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination movements, commonly referred to as 'lateral thinkers,' ('querdenken') in Germany have been active there throughout the pandemic. They demand an end to the restrictions imposed by the government to combat the virus, and are skeptical about vaccination.Ich sag mal so: weiträumige Vorkontrollen. #b0108 pic.twitter.com/kQLFITAACt
— Axel Lier ✏️ (@Reporter_Flash) August 1, 2021
Their protests are usually banned by authorities, who point to the fact that such demonstrators refuse to abide by the existing rules for demonstrations. The latest unauthorized protests sparked an angry reaction from Wolfgang Schaeuble, president of the German parliament's Lower House, the Bundestag.
If almost all experts around the world say that [Covid-19] is dangerous and vaccination helps, then who actually has the right to say: But I am smarter? For me that is an almost unbearable degree of arrogance," Schaeuble told German newspaper NOZ.
"Please take a look at the scientific findings, don't let cheap slogans fool you!" he added.
These German pro-civil rights protesters rock! Thank goodness for decent intelligent people like these standing up for their rights to stem the tide of a seemingly inevitable ubiquitous Orwellian future thanks to the majority of apparently insouciant sheeple in our world.
ReplyDeleteThe German police should be ashamed of themselves.