COVID-19 protests in Germany
Since April 2020, when Germany's Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the governmental lockdown imposed in March to counter the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow blanket bans on rallies, numerous protests have been held in Germany against anti-pandemic regulations. The protests attracted a mix of people from varied backgrounds, including supporters of populist ideas who felt called to defend against what they saw as an arrogant central government; supporters of various conspiracy theories; and sometimes far right-wing groups. Anti-vaxxers generally also formed a major part of the protesters. Some protesters held strongly negative views towards public media, who they believed to report in an unfair manner; repeatedly, journalists covering the rallies were subjected to harassment and physical attacks. Such attacks were the main reason why Germany slipped from eleventh to 13th place in the Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders, according to a report published on 20 April 2021.
Collage showing protest by coronavirus-conspiracy theory believers and right-wing extremists (right) and counter-protesters (left) in Berlin, 1 August 2020
Two Saxony-Anhalt Bereitschaftspolizei Wasserwerfer 10000 water cannons in front of Dresden's central police station, 17 April 2021
Police dispersing the protesters in Berlin on 18 November with water cannon, as the pandemic prevention requirements were not observed
Protest in Mainz in front of the Theodor Heuss Bridge on 13 March 2021
Reichsbürgerbewegung or Reichsbürger are several anticonstitutional revisionist groups and individuals in Germany and elsewhere who reject the legitimacy of the modern German state, the Federal Republic of Germany, in favour of the German Reich.
Sign at the entrance of the home of a supporter of the Reichsbürger Movement
2014 demonstration in Berlin