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When the new Infection Protection Act is passed this Wednesday, numerous demonstrations are to take place near the Reichstag at the same time.
Security authorities expect a number of participants in the upper four-digit range.
Right-wing extremist groups have also mobilized.
The Berlin police are facing a large-scale operation, similar to the amendment to the Infection Protection Act in November. A police spokeswoman told WELT that additional forces from North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen, Brandenburg, Saxony and the Federal Police in Berlin were deployed. So-called Hamburg bars were set up in the government district on Tuesday, and numerous police forces patrolled the site.
The assembly authority has so far issued four prohibition orders.
The demonstrations on March 18, on Heinrich-von-Gagern-Strasse, on Luisenstrasse and in the open space in front of the Federal Chancellery are affected.
According to information from WELT, findings from the security authorities have led to the applicants and the expected participants in the bans.
It is expected that they will override the infection protection requirements.
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On Tuesday, the Bundestag police also informed about the possible demonstration on Wednesday.
The situation information speaks of "a possible number of participants in the upper four-digit range".
The expected participants came from a “broad spectrum of society”.
Nothing is currently known about “specifically planned actions against the German Bundestag”.
During a demonstration in front of the Reichstag in November last year, the police used water cannons
Source: AFP
The experiences of the past year ensure that one is careful: "Spontaneous actions and individual crimes from the assembly events cannot be ruled out." Building.
Compared to WELT, the Berlin police spoke of a "very dynamic situation".
There are several registrations for demonstrations on Strasse des 17. Juni, in front of the Brandenburg Gate, on Spreeweg and on Potsdamer Platz.
The registered number of participants for the individual demonstrations would vary from ten to 2000 people.
Around 10,000 people protested against the amendment to the Infection Protection Act in November
Source: Getty Images
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How many people actually travel to Berlin in the end and whether all events can take place is unclear.
Internally, however, the police are expecting one of the largest demonstrations in recent months.
Thousands of people last traveled to Berlin in November of last year.
Back then, too, it was about the Infection Protection Act.
At that time, the demonstration, which also took place on a Wednesday, was ended with water cannons because the participants had violated the requirements en masse.
10,000 people came.
There were 365 arrests and ten officers were injured.
This time, too, water cannons should be ready.
From security circles it is said that one will appear "robust" if there are violations of the protection against infection.
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Last year it had been shown that demonstrations on the corona events were always significantly larger than expected - with some considerable violent riots by demonstrators and counter-demonstrators.
Some police officers were massively attacked and injured.
In the internal situation reports of the security authorities it was recorded that one saw a “significantly increased potential for escalation” especially in the case of “meetings with a large number of participants”.
Right-wing extremists take part again and again, but so far they have not been able to "significantly influence democratic assemblies".
The Protection of the Constitution looks at "lateral thinking"
According to the authorities, the protests, which have already taken place this year, were primarily “an extremely inhomogeneous 'mixed scene'”.
This includes people from the “civil-democratic area without political ideology” - they protest against restrictions on fundamental rights or with a view to economic hardships.
In addition, there are supporters of conspiracy ideologies, opponents of vaccinations or esotericists, but also extremists or citizens of the Reich.
The protests in Germany last year mainly shaped the initiative “lateral thinking”. Your regional offshoots have already been classified as suspected extremist cases by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in several federal states - for a few days also in Berlin, as Senator for the Interior Andreas Geisel (SPD) said. Supporters of “lateral thinking” are concerned with delegitimizing the free-democratic basic order.