GERMAN PROTESTERS RESIST ATTEMPT BY COPS TO STOP MARCH

Demonstrators in the German city of Leipzig resisted attempts by police to stop them marching in a protest against the government and its measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic, Deutsche Prsse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Some 20,000 people from across Germany had turned out in the event organized by the Querdenken (Lateral Thinking) movement, thousands more than expected by authorities. City authorities had earlier lost a court ruling to keep demonstrators out of the urban center as judges allowed the event to go ahead with up to 16,000 people in attendance on an inner-city square.

Thousands of protesters marched on an inner-city ring road, ignoring a ban by authorities to do so, after police ended the earlier rally due to uncountable violations of social distancing rules. A police spokesman said 90 per cent of the participants did not wear face masks, also there were more than the 16,000 people permitted present.

Similar to earlier protests, the participants were a mix of average citizens, conspiracy theorists, adherents to esoteric worldviews and right-wing extremists. Some of the marchers called for "Peace, Freedom, against Dictatorship" and "Merkel muss weg," urging an end to the chancellorship of Angela Merkel. A few demonstrators clashed with counter-protesters, police said. According to the journalist union DJU there were at least 32 attacks on reporters, most of them by Querdenken participants.