France ready to ease curfew, travel limits; Police, protesters clash over virus law in Berlin
World
April 22, 2021
Berlin: Police fired tear gas as thousands of people demonstrated in Berlin on Wednesday against a proposed amendment to give Angela Merkel’s government power to impose tougher anti-coronavirus measures.
With Germany buckling under a third wave of the virus, the amendment allowing for nationwide curbs like school closures and night-time curfews aims to end a political tug-of-war between the federal government and the 16 regional states over virus restrictions.
Around 8,000 protesters gathered ahead of a vote on the law in the Bundestag lower house of parliament on Wednesday, with more than 2,000 police officers deployed to the scene. Protesters were carrying placards with slogans such as Merkel & Co = high treason and chanting Wir sind das Volk ( We are the people ) a common refrain in the run-up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.