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Berlin protest over virus restrictions draws thousands

A handful of people held a counter demonstration

01 August, 17:05
(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, 01 AGO - A Berlin protest against coronavirus restrictions drew thousands, from the hard left and right to conspiracy theorists on Saturday. Police put turnout at 15,000 -- well below the 500,000 organisers had announced as they urged a "day of freedom" from months of virus curbs. "We are the second wave," shouted some as marchers headed for the Brandenburg Gate while others called for "resistance", dubbing the pandemic "the biggest conspiracy theory". Few protesters wore a mask or respected the 1.5-metre (five-foot) social distancing requirement, an AFP journalist reported, despite police calling on them via megaphone to do so. Berlin police revealed on Twitter they had launched a legal action against organisers over "non-respect of hygiene rules". A handful of people held a counter demonstration. Dubbing themselves "grandmothers against the extreme right", they shouted insults against "Nazi" protesters. The "Day of Freedom" slogan for the protest echoes the title of a 1935 documentary by Nazi-era film producer Leni Riefenstahl on a party conference by Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party. (ANSA-AFP).

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