40,000 March in Berlin Against the New Normal

Editor’s note: A court overturned the city’s ban on the demonstration, but ordered the marchers to uphold all the rules that they oppose. This gave the police the excuse they needed to shut down the protest once it got underway, but with 40,000 marching (police figures) it was simply too large to actually do so. However, this now increases the chances that next time the ban on marchers is going to stick, and that the demo is not going to be allowed to grow larger and larger each time.

Several demonstrations took place across Europe over the weekend to protest mask wearing and other measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The largest rally took place in Berlin, with close to 40,000 protestors and which resulted in some 300 arrests after violence broke out between extreme demonstrators and police.

According to Berlin Minister of Interior Andreas Geisel, around 200 of them were arrested in front of the Russian embassy, ​​after having thrown stones and bottles at police. There were no casualties reported.

And here's the august New York Times, which also can't get the basic facts straight, or just doesn't want to report them, or something. (The protest was not shut down, not for long anyway. We did indeed "reach our destination"). https://t.co/JAICM6iXac

— Consent Factory (@consent_factory) August 29, 2020

In the evening, a group also crossed barriers around the Reichstag, which houses the German parliament, before being pushed back by police, according to an AFP photographer.

The event, named the “feast of freedom and peace” by the organisers was the second of its kind in a month and worries the authorities.

Berlin authorities had initially banned the demonstration from taking place for “public health reasons,” referring to the difficulty to enforce social distancing between between demonstrators. But the decision was overturn by an administrative court.

Source: The Brussels Times