Demonstrations in several European cities, with the challenge of health measures against Covid-19 as a common point.
Several thousand people gathered on Saturday March 20 in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Bulgaria and Austria to denounce the restrictions against the pandemic
In the German city of Cassel, between 15,000 and 20,000 people took part in the demonstration, a spokesman for the local police told AFP.
Clashes took place when protesters who had found themselves in a central square, huddled together, without protective masks, tried to force their way through a cordon of police to join in. other dissatisfied, noted an AFP journalist.
The police then used pepper spray to disperse them.
Elsewhere in the city, police responded with batons and water cannons at groups attempting to cross barriers and throwing bottles.
There were also fights with counter-demonstrators.
The police notably accused the demonstrators of "repeated attacks" on the rescue workers.
"We do not tolerate such attacks," she added on Twitter, prematurely ending the rally due to hygiene violations.
The "Querdenker" movement at the origin of the demonstration
On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of the 16 regional states (Länder) will meet to decide on possible new measures while Germany was able to make some easing in early March.
The Kassel demonstration was called for by the "Querdenker" or "Anti-conformist" movement, which has organized some of the largest rallies hostile to health restrictions in Germany since the start of the pandemic.
It brings together members of the far left, followers of conspiracy theories, detractors of vaccination as well as supporters of the far right.
"We are here today because the measures imposed in Germany no longer serve the population," said Helmut, a 69-year-old protester.
Many other German cities had seen such gatherings last weekend, but on a smaller scale.
Germany recorded 16,000 new cases of contamination and 207 more deaths on Saturday, according to the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, while vaccination is too slow, according to experts, to avoid a third wave of Covid-19 despite restrictive measures taken for months to curb its spread.
At least 36 people arrested in London
In London, thousands of people also marched to protest against health restrictions, after gathering in Hyde Park.
Police in the British capital said they had arrested at least 36 people, mostly for violating the rules in force since January which prohibit going out without an authorized reason.
Most of those arrested were for breach of containment, police said.
Since the beginning of January, residents of the British capital and other parts of England have been banned from leaving their homes except for a limited number of trips.
In Hyde Park, a group of protesters threw projectiles at the police.
"Several were injured as a result of these targeted attacks," Deputy Commissioner Laurence Taylor, who led law enforcement operations, said in a statement.
"It is totally unacceptable and sad that officers responsible for enforcing regulations that are there to protect us all become the victims of these violent attacks."
Anti-Covid-19 restrictions have been in place in England since early January.
Faced with an improvement in the health situation, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to relax them, and the strict containment should be lifted at the end of the month.
Anti-mask or anti-vaccine signs
In the Netherlands, where riots took place in January following a curfew, police used water cannons to disperse a group of 500 people illegally gathered in Amsterdam's Museums Square .
The demonstrators then moved to a canal where the police blocked their progress.
They were transported by bus to another site, according to the local channel AT5.
In Switzerland, around 5,000 people demonstrated in the town of Liestal, police said.
Some held up signs on which was written: "Enough!", "Vaccines kill".
"Modern slaves wear a mask", we could also read on the signs carried by several of them while a man wore the inscription "Mask obligatory, close your mouth" on his face.
They believe the Swiss government is using "dictatorial" measures to impose health restrictions, such as closing restaurants and bars.
In Vienna, around a thousand demonstrators, some of them extreme right, marched before the police dispersed them, according to the Austrian press.
And in Sofia, an anti-restriction protest brought together 500 people, many of them not wearing masks.
With AFP
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