Germany fears extremists at lockdown rallies

CITIES across Germany are preparing for protests against the coronavirus lockdown that are expected to bring thousands of people on to the streets this weekend.

Germany has lifted many of its lockdown measures but that has done nothing to slow a rapidly growing protest movement that brought 5,000 people on to the streets in Stuttgart last week and 3,000 in Munich.

But senior politicians have warned that the demonstrations are at risk of being hijacked by extremists.

“You have to be careful that the campaigns for more freedom are not hijacked by those who try to make political capital out of it – from the far Left or, above all, the far Right,” Markus Söder, the regional prime minister of Bavaria said.

“With such protesters, one should not only maintain social distancing physically but also mentally.”

His comments were echoed by Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, who said: “If radical extremists and anti-semites exploit demonstrations, then everyone should keep a distance of more than 1.5 metres.

“Whoever shouts into the world without a mask, without a minimum distance and without any consideration of others, confuses courage with blind anger and freedom with sheer selfishness.”

The protests have so far brought together a disparate mix of conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and others who believed the risk from the virus has been exaggerated.

The protesters openly defy a ban on meetings of people from more than two households and many refuse to wear face masks, which are mandatory on public transport and in shops.

Some believe the German government will rush to make a coronavirus vaccine compulsory before it can be properly tested. Others say they are concerned the government will use the crisis to curtail individual privacy rights.

A number have taken to carrying tinfoil hat pendants as a symbol of their refusal to conform.

Some of the protesters are rapidly becoming organised. One group calling itself Widerstand 2020 (Resistance 2020), claims on its website to be setting itself up as a political party.