Mon 02 November 2020:
Some 1,900 people protested on Sunday in the city ofMunichagainst Germany’s coronavirus shutdown, police said, at what organizers initially billed as a “church service.”
“This is not about freedom of assembly,” one of the speakers said at Theresienwiese, the official grounds of the city’s famous Oktoberfest, before calling on participants to pray with him.
While police said the event started out with the “contents and characteristics of a church service” when it became “more and more like a concert” they shut it down at around 7 pm (1800 GMT).
Thousands of people protested across Germany at the weekend, as the country prepared to go into shutdown on Monday, with restaurants and bars closing and outdoor gatherings limited to 10 people from two households.
Police at the protest in Munich said they warned about 200 people over incorrectly worn face masks or lack of them.
The city had only approved 1,000 participants for the demonstration, a decision upheld by two courts.
The organizers of the initiative Querdenken 089 (Lateral Thinking 089) had registered 5,000 demonstrators.
Crosses were erected on the stage, as well as coffins with wreaths of flowers and German flags.
FILE PHOTO
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