Despite Allowing 35,000-Person LGBT Pride Parade Last Weekend, Major City Bans Anti-Lockdown Protests
German officials are being very selective about who has the right to gather.
Berlin officials rejected 13 applications for marches this weekend to protest the nation’s lockdown edicts, according to DW.com.
The restrictions are a far cry from Berlin’s embrace last weekend of an LGBT pride parade that drew an estimated 35,000 people, according to Time.
DW.com reported that a German administrative court that rejected the applications to protest claimed the protests organized by the Querdenker anti-lockdown movement are characterized “by the fact that the participants used them to violate legal norms created to contain the risk of infection in a way that attracted public attention, in particular by disregarding the social distance requirement and the mask requirement.”
The ban covers every group “whose participants regularly do not follow legal regulations, specifically to protect against infections,” police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said.
Critics have pointed out the hypocrisy of allowing the massive LGBT marches but not the anti-lockdown protests.
Despite the ban, hundreds of people flocked to the streets in Berlin on Sunday to protest the German government’s anti-coronavirus regulations, according to The Associated Press.
Berlin police responded with about 2,000 officers. Berlin police said officers were “harassed and attacked.”
“They tried to break through the police cordon and pull out our colleagues,” police said, according to the AP.
Arrests were made, police said, and protesters were threatened with the use of water cannons.
This has been the scene this weekend:
Bodycheck, Faust und Pfefferspray. Konsequentes Vorgehen der Polizei gegen #Querdenken in Berlin. #b0108 @WELT pic.twitter.com/ABs6XJgqxR
— Martin Heller (@Ma_Heller) August 1, 2021
China must be so happy that Europe sees the value of its methods.
“COVID: Berlin court bans anti-lockdown protests” https://t.co/s33JwW4gfF— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) July 31, 2021
This was the scene at the LGBT parade last weekend.
The parade started with a call from Klaus Lederer, Berlin’s senator for culture, to make the city a “queer-freedom zone” in response to deteriorating safety for gays and lesbians in Hungary and neighboring Poland.https://t.co/StqtWjR31u
— News 4 San Antonio (@News4SA) July 24, 2021
Germany requires proof of a vaccination, recovery from the virus, or a negative test for people to participate in many activities, including dining indoors.
As noted by Breitbart, Germany debuted stricter border controls on Sunday in response to the Delta variant of the virus. Anyone entering Germany must now provide proof of a negative test.
Merkel’s chief of staff Helge Braun said “vaccinated people will definitely have more freedoms than unvaccinated people” and that this would be lawful because “the state has the responsibility to protect the health of its citizens” https://t.co/eSVvOymphv
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 25, 2021
People who have been vaccinated are exempt but must provide proof of vaccination.
Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff, Helge Braun, said “vaccinated people will definitely have more freedoms than unvaccinated people,” according to Breitbart.
Braun said “the state has the responsibility to protect the health of its citizens.”
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