COVID-19 protests in Germany

Since April 2020, when Germany's Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the governmental lockdown imposed in March to counter the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow blanket bans on rallies, numerous protests have been held in Germany against anti-pandemic regulations. The protests attracted a mix of people from varied backgrounds, including supporters of populist ideas who felt called to defend against what they saw as an arrogant central government; supporters of various conspiracy theories; and sometimes far right-wing groups. Anti-vaxxers generally also formed a major part of the protesters. Some protesters held strongly negative views towards public media, who they believed to report in an unfair manner; repeatedly, journalists covering the rallies were subjected to harassment and physical attacks. Such attacks were the main reason why Germany slipped from eleventh to 13th place in the Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders, according to a report published on 20 April 2021. Since about mid-2020, the main organizer of the protests has been a group called Querdenken (lit. 'lateral thinking'), which was initially based in Stuttgart but soon started to organize rallies also in Berlin and other cities. During the second lockdown starting in November 2020, radical conspiracy theorists increased their influence in the movement. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution began to observe parts of the Querdenken movement countrywide in April 2021 for their questioning of the legitimacy of the state. The display of anti-semitic tropes was common at rallies, which drew strong condemnation. Local authorities repeatedly sought to ban rallies. Court challenges to the bans began to be upheld more often in late 2020 as the pandemic situation worsened, and as courts expressed their lack of faith in the ability of organisers to maintain physical distancing and other safety measures. Protests were frequently accompanied by counterprotests, which often resulted in tense situations as police tried to keep the groups apart.