BERLIN (Reuters) – Demonstrators gathered in Berlin on Wednesday to protest against a law parliament is set to pass giving the national government power to impose lockdowns on areas with high coronavirus infection rates to curb a third wave of the pandemic.
Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to draw up the new law, which has drawn criticism from opponents who argue it curtails personal freedoms, after some of Germany’s 16 federal states refused to impose tough measures despite a surge in cases.
The measures include curfews between 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) and 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) and limits on private gatherings, sport and shop openings. Schools will close and return to online lessons if the virus incidence exceeds 165 cases per 100,000 residents.
Thousands of protesters are expected to demonstrate against the law outside the Bundestag parliament building in central Berlin.
In the morning, hundreds of people, some of them not wearing face masks, had already gathered waving flags with “peace” and “democracy” written on them and playing music in the sunshine beside the Brandenburg Gate nearby. One placard read: “End scaremongering now”.
Police vans were parked in the street and officers looked on.
Germans are sensitive to any measures which threaten their freedom due to the country’s Nazi and Communist past, and demonstrations against the new law have been staged in the last few weeks in towns across the country.
Germany reported a rise of 24,884 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to nearly 3.19 million. Some 80,634 people have died and doctors have warned that unless action is taken, intensive care units may struggle to cope.
However, in the last few days the seven-day incidence rate has inched down and is now at 160.1 per 100,000.
The law is due to go to the Bundesrat upper house of parliament on Thursday.
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers, editing by Emma Thomasson and Mike Collett-White)
