Far fewer than expected come to coronavirus protest in German city

Konstanz, Germany (dpa) – About a thousand people joined a church service and rally in the German border city of Konstanz on Sunday, the second day of protests there against coronavirus measures imposed by the government.

Turnout was lower than than the 3,500 to 4,000 people organizers had expected for the day’s events.

The main organizer of the weekend demonstrations, Konstanz businessman Gerry Mayr, was nevertheless satisfied.

“We are the many – and we are becoming more and more,” he said at the rally, which was held at a small festival site near the Swiss border.

Mayr told the crowd he considers lockdown to be prison and that he does not want to see any more “masked people” on the street.

Other speakers referred to the groundless conspiracy theory that the pandemic was invented, controlled by sinister forces and intended to help enslave people. There was applause from the audience, most of them not wearing face masks.

The event comes a day after a few thousand people gathered in Konstanz to protest, with some of them trying, and failing, to form a human chain around the shores of Lake Constance.

Organizers had hoped enough people would show up to link hands around the lake, which also spans Austria and Switzerland. The aim was to get as many as 250,000 people to stand together in order to send a pan-European signal against the coronavirus measures.

The weekend’s events were organized by the Querdenken (Lateral Thinking) movement, which was also behind two mass rallies in Berlin that stirred controversy due to the flouting of mask rules and the presence of right-wing extremists among the crowds.

Supporters of the government’s coronavirus policy staged counter-demonstrations at the weekend, sometimes confronting the “lateral thinkers.”

In one instance on Sunday, the police resorted to tear gas to keep the groups apart. According to the officers, however, there were no serious clashes and no arrests were made.