BERLIN, Germany | Incidents in Berlin have pitted the police against thousands of demonstrators opposed to the adoption scheduled for Wednesday of a law strengthening the powers of Chancellor Angela Merkel to toughen the fight against the third wave of the pandemic.
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Police used tear gas to disperse some 8,000 demonstrators who refused to leave the scene, according to an AFP journalist.
The police also reported seven arrests and several throwing projectiles against the police.
The dispersal was ordered while the demonstrators did not wear protective masks and respect social distancing, but most remained in place, chanting “We are the people”, “Lockdown is enough!” “Or” let’s defend our freedoms “, according to the AFP journalist.
At the same time, the deputies were in the process of voting a reform of the law on protection against contamination. It should be adopted, with the coalition between the Conservatives and the Social Democrats having a majority in the lower house of Parliament.
For the government, it is essential to take control over the management of the pandemic. It has killed more than 80,000 people in the country for a year and even if the vaccination campaign has accelerated, the third wave of infections has not yet reached its peak, according to virologists.
“Vaccinating and testing is not enough” to “break this third wave”, launched the Minister of Health Jens Spahn before the assembly, describing the situation, marked by a new influx of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, of “very serious”.
To enter into force, it will still have to pass the Bundesrat on Thursday.
“Very sensitive” subject
Its objective: to increase the competences of the central power in the health and educational fields, normally the prerogatives of the regions.
This is to impose a severe lockdown of public life, initially scheduled until June 30, as soon as the incidence rate, which measures infections over a week, is greater than 100 for three days.
The automatic triggering of this “emergency brake” should put an end to tensions with the regions, some of which have implemented, or even ignored, strict measures which were decided upon with their approval.
The approach is not obvious in a Germany very attached to its federalist system established at the initiative of the Allies after the end of the authoritarian Nazi regime, very centralized.
The establishment of curfews at the national level, the control of which would be ensured by the police, in particular awakens bad memories in the former communist GDR.
“Here in East Germany (the subject) is very sensitive,” said Social Democratic Interior Minister Thüringe Georg Maier.
The Liberals of the FDP reject it fiercely, because it is according to them “contrary to the Constitution” and threaten an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Without being openly opposed, the Greens question its effectiveness, while the far right and the radical left die Linke are against.
Concessions
In the face of criticism, the government relaxed its initial plan for an exit ban between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. It now offers a “soft” curfew between 10 pm and midnight, allowing to walk or jog, then “hard” between midnight and 5 am except to go to work.
The government also lowered to 165 the incidence rate resulting in the end of face-to-face lessons in schools, also under the jurisdiction of the regions, instead of a level of 200 which was deemed too high.
But there is no question of abandoning the idea of a federal curfew, which wants to be “a signal of the dramatic situation in Germany, and of the fact that we take it seriously”, explained this weekend the Minister of Economics conservative Peter Altmaier.
The diversity of the rules from one region to another, some having relied on relaxation combined with the massive use of tests, has fueled confusion and growing frustration among the population.
On Wednesday, the incidence rate fell slightly, averaging 160.1, with a number of new infections of nearly 23,000. Their daily rise has varied considerably in recent days, between 10,000 and nearly 30 000.