Government district cordoned off
Few people at demo against compulsory vaccination
01/26/2022, 8:37 p.m
While there is a detailed debate in the Bundestag about mandatory vaccination for the first time, demonstrators meet to protest against the measure. But the police count far fewer participants than expected. Only a few protesters try to break through the police barrier.
Despite weeks of calls on the Internet, fewer participants than expected came to demonstrations against compulsory vaccination in Berlin. The police spoke of around 1,500 demonstrators in various groups on Wednesday afternoon around the largely cordoned-off government district in the city center. The authorities had expected up to ten thousand people. At the same time, the Bundestag debated the subject in the Reichstag building.
1,600 police officers were deployed, some of them from other federal states. Because the demonstrators had not registered their rallies and a considerable number were not wearing corona masks, the police found many personal details and took reports. There was talk of 25 provisionally arrested, but this was still a preliminary number.
Overall, the demonstrations were “largely trouble-free,” said a police spokeswoman. However, there have been attempted breakthroughs in which the police pushed and pushed aggressive people back. With “consistent action” one deterred other participants from participating in the unregistered meetings.
Several dozen counter-demonstrators
The area around the Reichstag building had been cordoned off by the police so extensively that there was no access to the Brandenburg Gate either. There were several water cannons nearby. The federal police were present at the train stations and observed the situation. Security forces were also out with dogs and on horses, and police cars drove through the Tiergarten.
A banner held by the demonstrators read: “The Basic Law is the red line”. Others held up a poster: “I’m not a shitty Nazi, not an AfD voter. But for our basic rights here, including yours.”
According to the police, there were scuffles in several places because demonstrators pushed against the barriers or refused to follow instructions. In some places, several dozen counter-demonstrators had gathered. “Drosten Ultras” was on a poster, alluding to the Berlin virologist Christian Drosten.
Because of the big debate in the Bundestag on the corona vaccination requirement, numerous opponents of the corona measures from many parts of Germany had called for protests and demonstrations in Berlin on the Internet.