Around 5.000 people gathered outside the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Wednesday to protest against the handling of the coronavirus pandemic in Germany, with organisers accusing the government of trying to establish a “dictatorship.” Police fired a water cannon to disperse the crowd.

Thousands of protestors gather

Around 5.000 unmasked protestors descended on the Brandenburg gate on Wednesday, after the government had banned protests from taking place outside the Reichstag and Bundesrat building. The protestors carried posters depicting German politicians, with one showing Angela Merkel as a prisoner above the word “guilty”.

Berlin police asked protestors repeatedly to put on protective face masks and made it clear that they would cancel the protest and “detain violators” should the protestors refuse to comply. Police eventually fired a water cannon to disperse the crowd.

The protestors had gathered to rally against the coronavirus restrictions that were implemented earlier this month to curb the spread of the virus. The organisers of the protest accused the government of trying to establish a “dictatorship”.

Radical groups expected at protests

The interior ministry stopped protestors gathering outside the Reichstag and Bundesrat building on Wednesday after being informed by the country’s security services that protestors from “politically radical and even violent groups" planned to block access to the buildings. 

Activists also took the internet to compare the government measures to the Enabling Act of 1933, which gave Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers. MPs were set to grant formal powers to state governments, allowing them to enforce limits to social contact. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas condemned the comments tweeting, “Those who make such disgraceful comparisons mock the victims of National Socialism and show they have learned nothing from history.”