Officers attacked during German protests

GERMAN police were attacked with firecrackers while trying to enforce lockdown measures at protests in the city of Leipzig.

The police came under attack while attempting to break up protests involving 20,000 people, as participants failed to comply with social distancing rules or to wear face masks.

Video footage shows police being pelted with bottles, fireworks and other projectiles as they attempted to set up a security cordon near the city’s main railway station. “There were numerous attacks against security forces,” the police said on Twitter, adding that 90 per cent of protesters failed to wear face coverings, which are mandated at demonstrations under Germany’s rules.

The protests, the first to take place since Germany implemented stricter anti-coronavirus measures last Monday, also saw counter demonstrators and journalists attacked, the German Press Agency reported.

Coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket, reaching more than 23,000 daily cases on Saturday for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

To curb the spread of the virus, Germany has begun rolling out rapid testing in nursing homes and hospitals.

The government has secured 9 million rapid tests to be distributed for use in November, with the monthly quota to rise to 22 million in January, the Federal Ministry of Health told the German Press Agency.

The health department said that individual nursing home residents may be tested up to 20 times per month.

Meanwhile, Angela Merkel, the chancellor, yesterday promised first access to a vaccine to health workers, while also promising that any vaccine will be “voluntary”.