Germany: anti-masks are back in the streets of Berlin

A first demonstration against the wearing of the mask had already brought together nearly 20,000 people in Berlin on August 1, 2020. Christoph Soeder / dpa via AP

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According to polls, three-quarters of Germans approve of the measures taken by their government to fight the coronavirus pandemic and respect them as a whole. But a critical minority reject them and have been taking to the streets since spring to denounce measures that they consider exaggerated. A new mobilization takes place this Saturday in Berlin where a previous demonstration on August 1 had gathered 20,000 people. 

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With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut

"  The greatest day in history since 1945  ". Friday evening, a speaker during a first demonstration did not skimp to qualify the mobilization expected this Saturday in Berlin.

Four weeks after the last edition which brought together around 20,000 people in the German capital, opponents of the wearing of masks and more generally of measures against the Covid-19 epidemic are taking to the streets again this Saturday.

They have risen more than ever after the ban on the demonstration pronounced Wednesday by the city of Berlin. But the municipality, which argued risks to public health due to non-compliance with barrier gestures on August 1, was dismissed by the courts on Friday.

A more radical turn

This Saturday's demonstration could take a more radical turn, with many far-right groups being mobilized: the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the identities but also neo-Nazis.

Alongside them, we will again find a colorful crowd united in the rejection of measures aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus which they believe hamper their freedom. Anti-vaccine activists, hippies, conspirators, but also worried Germans will march alongside more radical demonstrators, some of whom do not hesitate to compare themselves with the Jews persecuted under Nazism. 

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  • Germany
  • Coronavirus
  • Health and medicine

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