Coronavirus: German politicians raise radicalisation concerns after weekend of anti-lockdown protests

Government says some protesters promoted ‘hate-filled’ theories about Covid-19 pandemic

The German government has strongly condemned violence at recent anti-lockdown protests as politicians warned the growing wave of demonstrations could lead to people being radicalised.

Steffen Seibert, a government spokesperson, said on Monday that demonstrations were an important way for people to express their frustrations over the handling of coronavirus, but warned “the high aggression towards both police officers and journalists … needs to be strongly and sharply condemned”.

Protests against lockdown measures were held in major cities in Germany over the weekend, encouraged in part by conspiracy theorists who have blamed people such as vaccine manufacturers and billionaire Bill Gates for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the protests held in Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart were relatively modest in size, several saw violent clashes with police as densely-packed crowds violated social distancing rules designed to slow the spread of the virus.

Three TV camera crews have been attacked at protests in Berlin and the western city of Dortmund in the past two weeks, and police detained dozens of people in the capital on Saturday after bottles were thrown at officers.

German officials have warned that some extremists and fringe groups have hijacked the demonstrations.

Mr Seibert said some protesters had promoted “absurd claims [and] hate-filled, stereotypical theories that either point towards a scapegoat or some kind of global villain that’s holding all the strings in his hands”.

“Whoever spreads such things wants to divide our country,” he added.

Saskia Esken, leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), said it was important for politicians to actively challenge conspiracy theorists and extremists groups seeking to capitalise on the lockdown.

“Looking away and silence do not help,” Ms Esken told Funke Mediengruppe. “We have to show ourselves to be pugnacious democrats.”

Meanwhile, Georg Maier, interior minister of the Thuringia region, told Der Spiegel magazine: “The idea that the pandemic was deliberately introduced to control the people, and that Bill Gates or other dark forces are behind it, reaches deep into the middle of society.”

The warnings came as the Robert Koch Institute for disease control reported that Germany’s reproduction rate - the number of people each ill person infects on average - had risen to 1.1, putting it just above the number required to keep the epidemic in decline.

Germany announced a broad relaxation of lockdown restrictions last week, with all shops allowed to reopen and schools set to gradually reopen through the summer term.

On Monday, Angela Merkel, the chancellor, stressed the need to continue following social distancing and covering their mouths and noses even as some restrictions are eased.

“It's very important to me to again draw attention to the fact that we're entering a new phase of the pandemic and that it will now be necessary, with all the easing of measures, to be sure that people stick to the basic rules. Keeping their distance, wearing mouth and nose protection and showing consideration for each other," Ms Merkel told reporters.

Additional reporting by agencies