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For the one-year anniversary of the first major anti-lockdown demonstration in Berlin, adherents of the “Querdenker” movement vowed to descend on the capital again on the 1st of August, 2021. Authorities declared all the announced demonstrations as illegal and took measures to deal with those defying the orders. Here, police guard an entrance to the temporarily closed-off urban park Tiergarten.
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Berlin police were stationed in the city with thousands of officer and hundreds of vehicles to keep in check protesters defying the prohibition of the demonstrations.
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Police gather in front of Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg gate, where a crowd of anti-Covid-restriction demonstrators had congregated.
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Police closed off the Brandenburg gate to prevent further people streaming to the numerous illegal assemblies throughout the inner city of Berlin.
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A mixed group of protesters and onlookers stands under the closed-off Brandenburg gate. One woman, a Covid denier, can be seen in the foreground trying to argue with some of the onlookers on the other side of the police barricade.
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Police established a secure perimeter around the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building. In summer of 2020, there had been an attempted storming of the building by the same “Querdenken” movement and the police had received severe criticism for not doing enough to protect the building.
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Police stand on Platz des 18. März, on the west side of the Brandenburg Tor.
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Protesters gather behind the police barricades that were errected in Brandenburger Tor to prevent them from joining with a larger group of demonstrators farther west.
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Heavy police presence in downtown Berlin.
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Further units make their way to disperse demonstrations against Covid and in support of the “Querdenken” movement. The protests had been declared illegal in advance due to repeated previous disregard for anti-infection measures.
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Police officers started targeting and arresting key individuals in the crowd after making repeated announcements reminding the protesters that their assembly was illegal. The group of demonstrators is highly heterogenous – this particular person was wearing left-wing symbols; However, the presence of the far-right is one of the defining characteristics of the “Querdenken” movement.
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Police in riot gear and with a police dog stand ready behind a police barricade and water cannon.
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Police presence at Berlin’s victory column on August 1, 2021
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Police continued to make arrests throughout the crowd. By the end of the day, more than half a thousand people had been taken into police custody.
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A supporter of the “Querdenken” movement is taken into police custody.
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A protester shouts at members of the media reporting on the demonstration.
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Although the crowd decreased in size, some protesters continued to defy police orders to leave the area, with some even choosing to sit right in front of the water cannon and play a board game.
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The crowd gradually dispersed after numerous arrests and under the threat of the use of water cannons by the police. Three water cannons were present, although none were used.