After several demonstrations, including those from the “lateral thinker” scene in Berlin, have been banned, hundreds of people have gathered in the vicinity of the Olympic Square in Charlottenburg. There were clashes between protesters and the police. According to police, there have been attempts to break through barriers. "Here, physical violence had to be used in individual cases," said a police spokeswoman on Sunday. There have been isolated arrests. The gathering of around 2,000 people, according to the police, should be seen as a forbidden substitute event.
Sometimes people sat down on the street. Whistles could be heard, loud shouts such as "Peace, Freedom, Democracy" and police vehicles with sirens. A police helicopter was also in use in the air. According to a dpa reporter, pepper spray was used to arrest protesters when some other protesters tried to prevent the police from doing so. The train of people has meanwhile moved on. According to the dpa reporter, hundreds of people were on the road between Theodor-Heuss-Platz and Wilmersdorfer Straße in the early afternoon. Police officers had cleared the road in places.
The Berlin police had banned several demonstrations for this weekend because they feared violations of the hygiene requirements.
Among them is a rally by the initiative “lateral thinking 711” from Stuttgart, which originally had 22,500 participants registered for the afternoon.
The Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court confirmed the ban late on Saturday evening.
A number of other events, some of which, according to their title, are also directed against the politics of the corona pandemic, can take place against it.
A parade of cars was planned at the Olympic Square.
Car corsos have a different hygiene concept, said the police spokeswoman.
In the morning, however, people also flocked there on foot.
Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble had previously sharply attacked the “lateral thinker” scene. “If practically all experts worldwide say that Corona is dangerous and vaccination helps, then who actually has the right to say: But I am smarter? For me that is an almost unbearable level of arrogance, ”said Schäuble of the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. The CDU politician appealed to the scene: “Please take a look at the scientific findings, don't let cheap slogans fool you!” Schäuble added: “Even with lateral thinkers, the emphasis should be on 'thinking' and not on 'across'. "