Berliners march in protest against the lockdown last weekend<\/p>\n
Berlin authorities have banned more than tens of thousands of anti-lockdown protesters<\/a> demonstrating this weekend.<\/p>\n Judges at the German capital’s administrative court refused to authorize\u00a013 demonstrations, some of which had been\u00a0organized by\u00a0the Querdenker (Lateral thinker) anti-lockdown movement.<\/p>\n The ban was upheld by the Berlin-Brandeburg upper administrative court.<\/p>\n Organizers said 22,500 people had registered to take part in one of the rallies.<\/p>\n Court officials said the protests were banned<\/a> amid fears of a rise in coronavirus infections sparked by the delta variant.<\/p>\n A separate march planned for Sunday has also been forbidden.<\/p>\n The “For Peace, Freedom, Truth” rally had been expected to draw 3,500 people.<\/p>\n Several of the demonstrations had been organized in support of Berlin’s nightclubs.<\/p>\n The court said the risk to public health was too high.<\/p>\n The upper court said the Querdenker movement was characterized throughout Germany “by the fact that the participants used them to violate legal norms created to contain the risk of infection in a way that attracted public attention, in particular by disregarding the social distance requirement and the mask requirement.”<\/p>\n Berlin police fear that many of them will still decide to travel to the German capital.<\/p>\n The bans affect all protests “whose participants regularly do not follow legal regulations, specifically to protect against infections,” said police spokesman Thilo Cablitz.<\/p>\n He cited the refusal by demonstrators to wear a mask.<\/a><\/p>\n The Querdenker, or\u00a0lateral thinker group is Germany’s\u00a0main anti-lockdown movement.<\/a><\/p>\nWhy were the demos banned?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What\u00a0is the ‘Querdenker’?<\/strong><\/h2>\n