COVID-19 protests in Germany

(Redirected from Querdenken) Ongoing protests against the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions in Germany

COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests in Germany
Part of protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
Collage showing protest by coronavirus-conspiracy theory believers and right-wing extremists (right) and counter-protesters (left) in Berlin, 1 August 2020
Date	4 April 2020 — 1 October 2022
Location	Berlin and several other cities
Caused by	Opposition to the government measures against the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
Goals	Ending COVID-19 restrictions in Germany
Methods	Protests Defying social distancing Motorcades (from January 2021)
Status	Concluded
Arrests
Arrested	1850+

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.

Background

From 22 March 2020, Germany entered a first lockdown in order to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. It was eventually extended, with some differences among federal states, until June 2020. The lockdown regulations included, besides a physical distancing requirement of 1.5 metres in public – to which a requirement to wear a nose and mouth covering in stores and on public transport was added in late April –, initially also a prohibition for restaurateurs to provide in-house dining; also, service providers in close-contact professions, such as hair-dressers, cosmetic, massage and tattoo studios, were required to close.

Early protests

The first protest of what became known as Hygienedemos (hygiene demonstrations) took place on 28 March in Berlin, and soon spread to other cities in Germany. At the 28 March rally no speeches were given, with its motto, "Defend basic rights – say no to dictatorship" also reflecting demands repeated at later weekly Hygienedemos. Observers noted that participants were from very disparate groups, some even holding conflicting views; they further noted that while the protesters were united in rejecting the anti-pandemic measures by the government – in which they saw violations of basic rights enshrined in the German constitution, such as the freedom of trade in view of the prohibitions mentioned above –, they lacked a common notion how they wanted society to be reshaped. During May, attendance at the Hygienedemos generally decreased sharply. This was attributed by observers to a combination of several factors: the relaxation of the lockdown that had been imposed in March; a high level of satisfaction in the general population about the government's handling of the crisis; the impact of counter-protests; and the recognition by the general population that the protests had shown to be utilized by the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) and violent or extreme right-wing individuals sprouting conspiracy theories, including vegan chef Attila Hildmann. The German non-government organization platform Campact warned its members against attending the Hygienedemos.

Emergence of Querdenken (Lateral Thinking) movement

From mid 2020, the main organizer of protests has been a group called Querdenken ("lateral thinking"), which was initially based in Stuttgart but soon became a nationwide movement; individual Querdenken groups often appended the phone area code of their cities (such as Querdenken 711 for Stuttgart). Media soon began to use the term Querdenker to describe more generally any person opposing anti-pandemic measures, even though other groups were also organizing protests.

The Querdenken rallies saw a varied mixture of participants. While protests became smaller after those of summer 2020, violence became more frequent. There were increasing concerns that the rallies were becoming a platform for far-right, and even extremist, views, and that protesters were embracing conspiracy theories, notably those of the QAnon movement originating in the United States. Querdenken founder Michael Ballweg was reported to have said the motto of QAnon into the microphone at a rally in August 2020. However, according to a study published by the Federal Agency for Civic Education in January 2021, only a small number of protesters was integrating governmental pandemic policies into the theories of QAnon or the extreme-right Reichsbürger movement, which likewise was present at several rallies.

In a number of instances, local authorities banned rallies as they deemed coronavirus protection plans submitted by the organizers as insufficient. Several rallies only went ahead after a partial or whole overturn of such bans via court appeals. Prohibitions began to be upheld more often from late 2020, such as for a rally that had been planned in the northern city of Bremen for 5 December, as on two rallies planned for 12 December in Frankfurt and Dresden.

After a hiatus over the New Year, Querdenken founder Michael Ballweg announced on 27 January 2021 a resumption of protests through motorcades. The first such protest, drawing several hundred participants and extending over several kilometers, took place in Stuttgart the same day. Over the next fortnight, several motorcades took place in Munich. Smaller motorcades in Mannheim on 6 February were dissolved by police.

Ebbing of protests in 2021

In June 2021, as Germany had overcome the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic – with daily case numbers having decreased substantially from the peak while vaccination rates were increasing – , observers considered that, while Querdenken had not run its course, it was finding it more difficult to mobilize protesters. Josef Holnburger, politologist at the think tank Center für Monitoring, Analyse und Strategie [de], said that while the protests of 2020 had resulted in an increase in the number of subscribers to Telegram channels of the movement, that number had essentially leveled out since November 2020, which he ascribed to a string of unsuccessful protests. However, he expressed concern that the content discussed in those channels was at times becoming more radical. He said that the movement had already become active in other areas where it aimed to undermine trust in government institutions and their representatives, including Climate change denial and allegations of rigging in the 2021 German federal election scheduled for September. While he deemed it likely that these two topics would be there to stay for considerable time, they were unlikely to be as effective in mobilization of protesters as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Renewed rise during fourth and fifth waves of the pandemic

In late 2021, vaccine mandates became a subject of wide debate in Germany, as the vaccination rate had remained below government targets and daily case numbers in the fourth wave of the pandemic increased rapidly. The debate gave new momentum to the protests, which now focused on radical opposition against a mandate.

The new wave of protests originated in the state of Saxony, which in some areas had infection rates which were among the highest in Germany, widely traced to a relatively low vaccination rate. Emergency regulations that took effect in the state on 22 November 2021 limited public rallies to a maximum of ten people and prohibited marches. In response, particularly in small and medium-sized cities, protesters gathered for what they labelled as "strolls". The atmosphere at the strolls and other protests, for which calls were spread via Telegram by the right-wing extremist group "Free Saxons", was often tense. Police in Chemnitz confirmed in early December that strolls do not count as demonstrations, provided that physical distancing is observed. The ten-person limit was criticized by AfD parliamentary leader Jörg Urban as having disturbed the peace in the state, through pitting participants and police "automatically" against each other; he called for a "restitution of the freedom of assembly". The protest form of strolls was copied by protesters in other German states. In order to counter the circumvention of assembly regulations through the strolls, interior minister of Bavaria Joachim Herrmann suggested in early January 2022 that local authorities issue generally applicable restrictions on locale, time, or number of participants, making violations at strolls potentially subject to heavy fines on participants.

On 3 December 2021, around 30 people gathered in front of the private home of state health minister Petra Köpping in Grimma, some carrying flame torches. Police, the public prosecutor's office and state security were investigating the incident, which the Saxon state government labeled as "trespassing with the aim of intimidating responsible people." The gathering, for which the "Free Saxons" claimed responsibility, drew sharp criticism by several politicians from across the country, with Winfried Kretschmann saying, "These are methods invented by the SA." Newly appointed interior minister Nancy Faeser called the incident an "attempt at intimidation" and vowed to take strong action against any future torch rallies of Querdenken protesters or COVID-19 deniers.

In January 2022, figures from Querdenken shared a story by the German edition of The Epoch Times that amplified accusations by German activist Steffen Löhnitz that the Austrian government had deliberately inflated infection numbers to justify a lockdown, and reported his claims of "massive fraud" against the populations of Austria and Germany as fact.

Death threats and foiled plots against politicians

For his anti-pandemic policies, premier of Saxony Michael Kretschmer was the target of right-wing death threats spread on Telegram. An investigation by state police and prosecutors against a concrete threat of a plot against Kretschmer and other state politicians was reported in December 2021. On 15 December, around 140 police officers searched the homes of six suspects, five males and one female, in Dresden and a property in Heidenau, seizing weaponry including crossbows, as well as mobile phones, computers and electronic storage devices.

In April 2022, police foiled a plot by a right-wing extremist group that, in order to achieve its aim of creating a "war-like" situation to topple the German government, had intended to kidnap health minister Karl Lauterbach, besides planting bombs in energy infrastructure.

Police response

Repeatedly, police officers were attacked by protesters. Police was criticized on several occasions for its de-escalation strategy which allowed pandemic regulations to be violated, and for its actions against counterprotesters. Some observers noted that police faced difficulties in devising containment strategies due to the unusual mixture of protesters, which on several occasions included families with children and retirees.

From late 2021, a pattern emerged whereby protests, inspired in part by the antecedents in Saxony, were labelled by protesters as "strolls". Subsequent police action against these protests was regularly labelled by protesters as excessive police violence. Observers saw this as a deliberate tactic of the movement.

Oliver Malchow, chief of police union GdP, said in late December 2021 that the numerous protests were "putting a huge strain" on the police force, which was "running at full capacity all the time right now". He expressed concern over the psychological consequences on the force.

Protests

The list of protests below is not exhaustive. By the end of 2021, countless protests had been held across the country.

April/May 2020

Berlin

At the protest of 25 April, 1,000 protesters were gathered at the Volksbühne theatre. A slogan shouted by the people was: "I want my life back". Protest signs read: "Protect constitutional rights", "Freedom isn't everything, but without freedom, everything is nothing", "Daddy, what is a kiss?". Physical distance requirements were violated by a part of the protesters. The police arrested 100 people, a spokesman said that "during coronavirus times and according to containment regulations, we are obliged to prevent a gathering". Protesters handed out a newspaper questioning the need for lockdown measures and claiming the coronavirus is an attempt to seize power by spreading fear, this newspaper quoted 127 medical doctors questioning the need for strict lockdowns.

Two rallies against COVID-19 policies took place in Berlin on 9 May. At a rally in front of the Reichstag building, where conspiracy theorists had been speaking according to observations by a press photographer, police arrested about 30 protesters. The purpose of the arrests had mainly been to check identities after the minimum distance requirement had not been met multiple times, and as calls by police on protesters to observe the 50-person limit for the location were not heeded. At a rally on Alexanderplatz, 86 protesters were detained.

Stuttgart

Also on 25 April, in Stuttgart a protest was organized by the group Querdenken 711, which drew between 350 and 500 people. Initially, this gathering was banned, and it could only go through after the Federal Constitutional Court gave its permission. This group Querdenken 711 considers the German corona restrictions to be disproportionate, and since May they demand in their manifesto that all measures that they deemed to be violations of the German Constitution by the German corona measures be repealed.

During May, weekly Querdenken protests in Stuttgart had participants numbering in the thousands but saw a steep drop towards the end of the month. Rallies in Berlin and other cities also considerably decreased in size.

Other cities

A rally in Munich on 9 May drew more than 3,000 demonstrators, who demanded the lifting of the coronavirus related restrictions. While many participants did not heed the instructions by police to maintain the physical distancing requirement, police refrained from dispersing the protesters "on the grounds of proportionality", as there was no violence. Thousands of others joined protests in Stuttgart and other German cities.

1 August 2020, Berlin

On Saturday, 1 August, Querdenken 711 organized a demonstration in the capital Berlin. The master of ceremonies told the crowd to maintain some physical distance so as not to give the authorities a "pretext" to break up the event, but police reported that most demonstrators did not adhere to social distancing rules.

The police at first stated there had been 20,000 protesters. That number caused commotion, the organizers estimated there might have been 800,000 or more people. This number was dismissed by media fact-checkers as improbable. The police later reconsidered their counting, and on Friday, 28 August, raised it to 30,000 demonstrators.

29 August 2020, Berlin

On Saturday 29 August, two demonstrations were organized by Querdenken 711 in Berlin. Leading politicians of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), including Tino Chrupalla and Björn Höcke, called for participation at the demonstrations, as did far-right political activist Götz Kubitschek. According to information obtained by RND, party co-leader Jörg Meuthen had issued an internal warning to his party against advertising the rally, due to the expected presence of adherents of far-right views and conspiracy theorists; several AfD members of the Bundestag (federal parliament) who had previously supported Meuthen in party-internal conflicts still joined the rally.

In total 38,000 people gathered according to official police statements, from Germany and other European countries. A previous ban by the authorities on the protests had been nullified by the courts, on condition of ensuring through announcements and orderlies that the minimum physical distance requirement would be met; no nose and mouth cover requirement was made.

In the morning, 18,000 people had gathered in the city centre, planning to march from Unter den Linden to the Brandenburger Tor and Großer Stern. But as most demonstrators refused to keep the dictated 1½ meters distance or wear a nose and mouth covering that the police had mandated after the physical distance breaches, the police dispersed this demonstration after a few hours.

In the afternoon, 30,000 people gathered at Straße des 17. Juni and Großer Stern for a demonstration with several orators. Among those addressing the crowd were the American lawyer and activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of assassinated US President John F. Kennedy and son of the assassinated US presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy. Referring to the famed Ich bin ein Berliner speech that his uncle had given in the city in 1963, he told the crowd that "today Berlin is again the front against totalitarianism", warning of a surveillance state.

Mainstream media reporting on this protest, in Germany as well as other European countries and the United States, laid more emphasis on what was called a "storming" of the Reichstag building (Parliament building) by a group of people associated with "far-right" or even "nazis" than on the concerns of most demonstrators over worldwide corona policies. In total, police made 316 arrests, among them vegan chef and conspiracy theorist Attila Hildmann. A substantial number of members of the extreme-right Reichsbürger movement was present at the rallies.

12 September 2020, Munich

Permissions for a demonstration by Querdenken 089 – the Munich section of the Querdenken movement – were not finalized until the early morning, when a higher court overturned an earlier prohibition on the condition that anti-pandemic regulations were properly observed. However, the parade through the city was called off after organizers were unable to enforce the requirement on protesters to wear a nose and mouth covering, and the requirement on minimum physical distance. Also, at about 3,000, the number of protesters was much higher than the 500 which had been approved by authorities. The subsequent main rally on the Theresienwiese was attended by about 10,000 protesters according to police estimates, few of whom were wearing a mask. A counterdemonstration on Goetheplatz was organized by an alliance of almost 50 organizations under the motto "solidarity instead of right-wing conspiracy mania".

20 September 2020, Düsseldorf

A protest against COVID-19 related government restrictions took place on 20 September in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state capital Düsseldorf. Participants were required to maintain the physical distancing requirement of 1.5 metres as per NRW pandemic bylaws, but were not required to wear masks. Several counterdemonstrations were held in the city on the same day.

3–4 October 2020, Konstanz

Protests organized by Querdenken took place in Konstanz over two days. For the protests on 3 October, police estimated an attendance of 11,000 to 12,000 participants. Protesters who did not heed the nose and mouth cover requirement during an outdoor church service clashed with police who had been deployed to ensure that this requirement was met. For 4 October, organizers had called for a human chain of protesters around Lake Constance, but abandoned this plan as there were only 2,000 participants according to police. On the same day, counterprotests close to the Swiss border drew about 1,000 participants. Police used tear gas once to keep the two sides apart.

7 November 2020, Leipzig

A rally in Leipzig organized by Querdenken attracted at least 20,000 participants. Initially, police had intended the protest route to avoid the Augustusplatz in the inner city. This was overturned by the supreme administrative court of Saxony, whose decision had been based on a prospective estimate of approximately 16,000 participants, considering this to not exceed the capacity of the locality and neighbouring side streets under the physical distancing rules. Police tried to prevent the crowd – of which about 90 per cent did not heed the requirement to wear a nose and mouth covering, as police estimated – from proceeding to the inner city, but eventually allowed it through. Demonstrators sporadically clashed with police, and some attacked journalists. In response to the events, Saxony announced a tightening of pandemic related restrictions to come into force on 13 November, limiting the number of participants at rallies to a maximum of 1,000, subject to exceptions.

Government spokesperson Steffen Seibert later said that "extremists, troublemakers and people prepared to use violence" had been present at the demonstration.

18 November 2020, Berlin

A protest particularly against the inclusion of current coronavirus restrictions into the Infection Protection Law took place in Berlin. Tensions ran high as protesters attempted to reach the Reichstag parliament building, in which the Bundestag was in session to discuss the law. The protesters were stopped by police in riot gear, and used water cannon to disperse protesters. Almost 80 police were injured in clashes. Police made 365 arrests. The number of protesters at the rally was estimated to be over 10,000. Police used water cannon to disperse the protesters; this was the first time they had come to be used in the city since 2013. In an interview the following day, the Berlin police director stated that the water cannon had deliberately been directed above the protesters (as seen in the photo) as police had intended to make the protesters feel uncomfortable in the cold weather and induce them to leave, also given that their proximity to the water cannon and the presence of children in the crowd had ruled out tougher action.

On the same day, in highly unusual scenes, verbally aggressive individuals entered the Bundestag and were eventually removed by police. The Tagesspiegel reported that there had been four individuals entering, on invitation by AfD politicians Petr Bystron, Udo Hemmelgarn, and Hansjörg Müller. The actions by the four individuals were criticized severely by observers, who considered their verbal attacks during their actions as proof that they had not intended to have any meaningful discourse with the politicians they encountered and filmed. The parliamentary advisory committee commenced an investigation of the incident. A parliamentary speaker said on 14 January 2021 that two participants had been banned from the Reichstag, with the still pending cases expected to result in fines.

21 November 2020, Leipzig

Several protests and counter-protests took place in Leipzig. The group Mitteldeutschland bewegt sich registered a rally on the Kurt-Masur-Platz. As the number of protesters reached 500 – twice as many as had been registered with authorities –, police considered the capacity of the location to be reached and stopped further protesters from entering. The protest was later cancelled because the applicant was unable to produce a valid medical certificate to justify his refusal to wear a nose and mouth covering. Several hundred protesters then moved through the inner city heading for the Rathaus (Town Hall), but were stopped and encircled by police, who strove to separate protesters and counter-protesters, which was regarded in the evening as largely successful. Police refused to issue permits for spontaneous demonstrations. According to reports, a spontaneous demonstration of about 200 protesters organized by Antifa moved through the city centre. Leipzig mayor Burkhard Jung praised the contrast to the chaotic scenes at the Querdenken rally from two weeks earlier.

29 November 2020, Frankfurt an der Oder

Some 1,000 Querdenker protesters rallied in Frankfurt an der Oder, including about 150 from the city of Slubice across the border to Poland. Most of the protesters did not heed physical distancing requirements, nor did they wear nose and mouth coverings, in defiance of repeated urging by the several hundred police attending. Querdenken founder Michael Ballweg said in his speech that the movement had no place for extremism, violence, antisemitism, and inhuman ideas; several known extremists took part in the march, however. About 150 counter-protesters marched through the inner city of Frankfurt an der Oder.

5 December 2020, Bremen

For 5 December, Querdenken 421 called for a "nationwide festival for peace and freedom" with a planned 20,000 participants in Bremen. After a ban by the municipality and two rejected applications for interim legal protection at the administrative court Bremen and higher administrative court of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (OVG Bremen), the group went to the Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG, federal constitutional court) and continued to mobilize for the demonstration. The BVerfG accepted the municipality's justification that with the expected high number of participants, minimum distances could not be maintained. Despite the ban, demonstrators arrived. The Bremen authorities made clear in advance that they would not allow gatherings. Several smaller prohibited demonstrations were dispersed. In total, 800 complaints were filed, and 900 dismissals of protesters were enforced. Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer (SPD) said that Bremen had "set a signal also for other cities that one has to fight back". This "madness" (Mäurer) would have cost the taxpayer around 750,000 euros, he said.

6 December 2020, Düsseldorf

Around 1,500 participants of the Querdenken movement went to a demonstration in the city center of Düsseldorf. Amongst them several right wing groups attended. Massive police presence, such as a mounted division, a helicopter and water guns, made it possible to keep violence and riots to a minimum. In November there already was a demonstration with about 500 people, due to the new program and different speakers, such as Michael Ballweg (founder of the movement), the number rose to 1,500 participants from all over Germany.

Counterdemonstrations were held at the same time, with people from Church, trade unions and the cultural scene. Their reason for demonstrating mainly was that the Querdenken movement, in their view, had not sufficiently distanced itself from right-wing groups.

12 December 2020 - Frankfurt am Main, Dresden, Erfurt

In spite of legal bans on large demonstrations in Frankfurt am Main, Dresden and Erfurt on Saturday, 12 December 2020, unspecified numbers of protesters turned up anyway in Frankfurt and Dresden, clashing with police forces and with counterprotesters, while in Erfurt, 500 corona protesters also clashed with police.

13 March 2021, several German cities

Protests, with many participants being from the Querdenken movement, took place in Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart, and other cities. The Higher Administrative Court had banned the Querdenken demonstration in Dresden, on the grounds of the risk of infection for participants, police and passers-by – organizers had projected about 3,000 to 5,000 participants, far above the maximum of 1,000 set by coronavirus regulations in the state. In spite of the ban, at the Congress Center near the state parliament, over 1,000 demonstrators gathered according to police estimates. There were reports of a tense mood as hundreds of demonstrators began to march, with many flouting the mask and physical distance requirements. The march changed its course several times as a reaction to police closing off streets; cries "The pandemic is over" were heard. Six water cannons were positioned to protect a nearby COVID-19 vaccination center. In addition, several hundred protesters rallied in the inner city. They were stopped by police and subjected to identity checks. Altogether, the day in Dresden ended with twelve injured police and three arrests for attacks on police.

State Minister for Economy and Second Deputy Martin Dulig spoke on Twitter of "shocking images" of the attacks. State parliamentarian de:Kerstin Köditz of the Left Party criticized what she saw as the inability of the Ministry of the Interior and the police to implement the ban, and announced that her party would request a special meeting of the state committee on internal affairs.

A demonstration at the Munich state parliament was broken up by police for having exceeded, with about 2,500 protesters attending, the permitted number of 500 protesters.

20 March 2021, Kassel

Organizers under the name of "Freie Bürger Kassel – Grundrechte und Demokratie" ("Free Citizens Kassel – Basic Rights and Democracy") had registered the rally in Kassel for the day, giving a number of up to 17,500 expected participants; the Querdenken movement acted as co-organizers. A Higher Administrative Court had overturned a prohibition by local authorities but only allowed two rallies, capped at 5,000 and 1,000 participants, to be held at adjacent locations outside the city centre, and mandated physical distancing rules and the wearing of nose-and-mouth covers. An illegal demonstration with over 20,000 participants marched through the city center, with many protesters not maintaining physical distancing nor heeding the mask requirement. Several police and journalists were attacked; police used batons and pepper spray but largely held back, apparently to prevent the situation from escalating. There were also scuffles with counterprotesters, which led to the use of water cannon by police away from the main protest site. Police stated that it had made 15 arrests. State parliamentarian de:Günter Rudolph of the Social Democrats criticized the police strategy as "absolutely incomprehensible retreat of the state".

A social media uproar ensued from video footage showing police removing a roadblock by counterprotesters on bicycles; police stated that they would investigate the event.

3 April 2021, Stuttgart

Before the rally, the Health Ministry of Baden-Württemberg had told Stuttgart authorities that the state's coronavirus regulations could be used in several ways to prohibit the large Querdenken demonstration that was anticipated; his counterpart, however, did not see these options as viable. By the early afternoon, the initial police estimate of 2,500 participants at the main rally on the Cannstatter Wasen was exceeded, later reaching over 10,000. Here and at other, smaller rallies elsewhere in the city, coronavirus regulations on nose and mouth covering and physical distancing were largely ignored by protesters, but police mostly did not enforce the rules as protests largely remained peaceful. A police spokesman later said that the decision had been part of the strategy to prevent the march towards the Wasen from passing instead through the inner city. A counter-demonstration attempted to prevent the march to the Wasen, but were dispersed by police after having rejected the offer of an alternative location. ARD Newsroom chief editor de:Marcus Bornheim condemned an attack on a team of journalists. There were also reports of stones being thrown; police was to examine related footage.

11 April 2021, Frankfurt am Main

On Sunday, 11 April 2021, in Frankfurt am Main, the Querdenken movement held a largely peaceful demonstration with around 500 people, expressing their scepticism towards vaccinations, PCR tests, corona measures, and the media supposedly insufficiently representing their critical stances and too seldom reporting on the psychological effects of the corona measures extending up to suicides of minors.

21 April 2021, Berlin

Critics of pandemic related policies had registered several rallies in the city. On the day, the Bundestag discussed and passed a toughening of the Infection Protection Act. The ban on a Querdenken rally was upheld by the administrative court, which argued that on the basis of rallies held since October 2020, participants would likely violate the law. The protest had been widely advertised on social media. Police numbered approximately 2,200 from several states, which was seen by observers as contributing to a tense atmosphere at the start.

A rally on Straße des 17. Juni, near the government precinct, attracted over 8,000 (or, according to other sources, around 8,000) participants from throughout the country. Due to multiple violations of the physical distancing and nose and mouth covering requirements, police ordered the dispersal of the rally at around noontime. A large number of non-compliant protesters were pushed by police into the Tiergarten area, with several clashes and arrests occurring in the process. A group of about 1,500 to 2,000 protesters later marched to Bellevue Palace; in the late afternoon, this protest was also dissolved by police due to lack of observance of the nose and mouth covering requirement. A spontaneous demonstration that formed at the location was again dissolved by police after having broken through a police cordon. In total, police made around 250 arrests. Participants at the rally included AfD politicians and Bundestag members Stephan Brandner and Hansjörg Müller, former AfD politician Andreas Kalbitz, and new right journalist and activist Jürgen Elsässer.

1 August 2021, Berlin

Prior to the day, the courts had upheld a police ban on numerous protests in the city against pandemic measures, including a major protest planned by Querdenken. In its decision, the court stated that Querdenken had a pattern of aiming to attract public attention by violating in particular the social distance requirement and the mask requirement. In spite of the ban, around 5,000 protesters, according to police estimates, took part in marches. Police had deployed about 2,000 officers in riot gear. Some protesters in the Charlottenburg district ignored roadblocks and clashed with police. Water cannon was used to disperse protesters. In total, almost 600 people were arrested, with about 350 further people being briefly detained for identity checking. The following day it transpired that a protester had died in hospital due to a heart attack. According to a preliminary report, his sudden collapse during temporary detention after breaking through a police cordon had not been related to the police action. Over 60 police officers were injured, some of them seriously. United Nations Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer, who had been contacted with multiple videos allegedly showing excessive police violence, said on 5 August that he would ask the German federal government to make a statement regarding the incidents. Also on 5 August, the police force announced that it had started an own investigation into the accusations.

28–29 August 2021, Berlin

Authorities announced the previous day that they had banned 13 demonstrations, including several by Querdenken. One of the four appeals lodged at the local administrative court was successful, with the judges saying that no negative experiences had been made with that particular group. The date was considered sensitive for being the first anniversary of major protests in which some protesters had occupied the front of the Reichstag parliament building.

Nevertheless, in anticipation of major illegal protests, a total of 4,200 police officers were on standby. More than 2,000 riot police were walking alongside protesters to prevent them from reaching the tightly sealed government precinct and the Straße des 17. Juni.

A protest of several thousands commenced from Volkspark Friedrichshain according to police, with reporters observing that some protesters had already gathered elsewhere to pass by the park. Protesters carried flags and banners. In Moabit, about 1,000 protesters tried to break a police road block on the Lessingbrücke (Lessing Bridge). Violent scuffles broke out; police used pepper spray, causing protesters to leave soon after. A small number of protesters reached the Reichstag. Another approximately 500 protesters passed by the Charité hospital, where several hundred chanted "Drosten raus!" ("Drosten out!"), referring to virologist Christian Drosten who had long been a target for the ire of protesters. Smaller scattered crowds of protesters were also present.

In total, police made over 100 temporary arrests on the day. Four police were reportedly injured.

On 29 August, protests drew again several thousand people, with some groups not heeding the physical distancing and the nose-and-mouth covering requirements. Police deployed a helicopter and about 2,200 officers. A rally of several hundred protesters in the morning in Mitte was eventually dissolved by police; only a rally against a dog leash requirement had been registered with authorities. During their subsequent illegal march in smaller groups southward to the inner city, protesters moved in a flexible fashion avoiding police road blocks, in what appeared to be an attempt to sidestep police action. As on the previous day, important government buildings had been sealed off. Protesters were decrying what they called "vaccination apartheid", referring to government plans to relax certain restrictions only for the vaccinated and those who had recovered from a COVID-19 infection. Protesters also shouted "hands off our children", referring to the exhortations of the Berlin government to those above the age of 12 to get vaccinated. Police made over 160 arrests, 80 of which were in a police kettling in Pankow.

September 2021, Berlin and other cities

Several small protests took place at schools, targeting the vaccination efforts of mobile teams and taking particular aim at the vaccination of children and youths from the age of 12 which had been recommended in the guidelines of the German vaccination commission STIKO since 16 August. On 13 September in Berlin, on occasion of the start of a week-long federal campaign for vaccination, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was verbally abused by protesters while visiting a school. Protesters were stopped from entering the vaccination room by a helper of the medical team, and school administrators were able to make them leave before the alarmed police arrived. Several students were reported to have felt intimidated by the protesters. Protests also took place at other schools, meeting with sharp criticism by authorities.

11 December 2021, Hamburg

Up to 8,000 protesters marched through the city, many of whom had come from elsewhere. Almost none of them was wearing a mask, but the physical distancing requirement was largely kept. The self-professed causes of the protesters included opposition to government plans for a general vaccine mandate, and concerns about having to have their children vaccinated. Police said that the demonstration ended peacefully.

13 December 2021, Mannheim and other cities

Around 2,000 protesters turned up in the evening in Mannheim for a rally that had been advertised on Telegram messaging software, and not been registered with authorities. Police, who were surprised about the turnout, believed it to have been organized by the Querdenken movement. Around an hour into the protest, authorities told the protesters that the march was banned and that they would be banned from the city center. The growing group of protesters ignored the announcement, splintering into smaller groups as they marched. Some tried to push through a police barrier, where three of a total of six police officers were injured. Police arrested about 120 people for refusing to comply with police orders. Protests also took place in the Eastern German cities of Magdeburg (around 3,500 protesters) and Rostock (around 2,900 protesters).

18 December 2021, Hamburg and other cities

Around 11,500 protesters joined a rally under the banner "Enough! Hands off our children" against the COVID-19 vaccination of children from the age of five, which had commenced the same week. Participants mostly adhered to coronavirus regulations. There were smaller counter-protests of several hundred across the city. A protest in Cottbus by well over 3,000 participants was dissolved by police due to its size; some protesters were verbally aggressive and launched pyrotechnics. Several persons known to belong to the radical far-right were detained. There were also protests in Düsseldorf and Freiburg.

20 December 2021, Rostock and other cities

Around 10,000 participants gathered in Rostock for an unauthorized protest. Other cities in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also saw protests, totalling over 7,000 participants. Protesters in Mannheim resisted an attempt by police to end their unauthorized march through the city; several police were injured, with one being admitted to hospital.

26 December 2021, Schweinfurt

Several hundred protesters joined an unauthorized protest in Schweinfurt in the evening. A four-year-old child whose mother had tried to break through a police barrier was treated for pepper spray exposure; the mother was charged. Eight police were injured and eight protesters detained in what the police called a "heated, partly hostile atmosphere".

15 January 2022, Düsseldorf and other cities

A largely peaceful protest against vaccine mandates in Düsseldorf saw an estimated 7,000 participants. In Hamburg, an estimated 3,000 participants joined a protest against COVID-19 measures and vaccine mandates, ignoring a ban that authorities had issued on account of the high prevalence of the Omicron variant in the city, and which had been upheld in a court appeal. Most protesters in Hamburg did not wear masks and there were some scuffles with police. A counter-demonstration was joined by more than 2,900 people. In Freiburg, a protest against coronavirus measures attracted about 6,000 people, with about 2,500 joining a counter-protest.

Government, media and public analyses

In response to a parliamentary request from the Left Party, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) advised in early September 2020 that extreme-right spokespersons had been present at over 90 protests against coronavirus-related restrictions since the end of April 2020. The BfV said further that the mobilization calls of right-wing extremists had broadened and intensified for the Berlin 29 August rally as compared to the Berlin 1 August rally, but had met with very limited success in their goal of "connecting with democratic protests". It considered such a success at future rallies possible, though, and would continue its monitoring with a view to such developments.

The Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution began to observe the core administrative layer of Querdenken in December 2020; at that time, Minister of the Interior Thomas Strobl justified this step with the presence of radical tendencies (fostering extremist and conspiracy-ideological narratives) within the movement. He emphasized that the observation did not include the participants at rallies. Later on the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution began also to observe the movement. From at least April 2021 the Berlin State Office for the Protection of the Constitution targeted radical fractions of the movement with intelligence methods. On 28 April, the BfV announced that it had placed parts of the Querdenken movement under countrywide observation in a newly created category, due to its questioning of the legitimacy of the state.

In an interview in May 2020, law professor Oliver Lepsius said that peaceful dissent always had to be allowed in a democracy, and that violations of the law by single individuals were a well-known phenomenon and could not be used to prohibit demonstrations. In his view, basic rights had "definitely" been endangered in the first months of the pandemic, but that the freedom of speech had been upheld throughout the crisis. Comparisons of government corona policies to Nazi-era policies, as made by some of the protesters, were in no way appropriate.

In May 2020, media professor Bernhard Pörksen told the dpa press agency that labeling the protesters as "paranoids", "hysterics", or similar wholesale attacks would only antagonize them and only serve to make it more difficult to reach the important goal of cooling down the debate. There should, he said, be no tolerance towards antisemitic or radical far-right views.

An article in the Tagesspiegel from May 2020 pointed out that the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was trying to capitalize on the protests, but that in doing so it was entering a difficult balancing act, as it did not want to be seen as overtly supporting conspiracy theorists.

In a commentary published by Deutschlandfunk on 30 August, journalist and jurist Heribert Prantl expressed the view that the basic right to demonstrate guaranteed by the German constitution was not diminished by the pandemic situation, and that even "abstruse" demands by Querdenken protesters such as the immediate resignation of the German government had to be tolerated. Violence and Volksverhetzung were however not to be tolerated. Prantl expected from and demanded of the peaceful demonstrators, their organisers, and the police, that they confer and consider concepts and strategies to separate the peaceful demonstrators from unpeaceful people or volksverhetzende Rechtsextremisten (far-right inciters of hatred against segments of the population).

In an interview with Deutschlandfunk in late December 2020, Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said, when being asked why a small but vocal part of the population believed that they were living in a dictatorship – exemplified by Querdenken protests where protesters were wearing yellow stars resembling the Star of David to suggest that they were being persecuted, and a recent case of a protester who had likened herself to resistance fighter against Nazi Germany, Sophie Scholl – that complete ignorance on history was the only reason he could conceive. He further said that while he would "in theory" understand those who demonstrated against a curtailing of basic rights – which he considered minor –, he would consider it beyond the limits of what he could accept if they were infiltrated by proponents of extreme-right views and anti-semitic conspiracy theories.

The advance of protesters to the German parliament building entrance at the demonstration on 29 August 2020, and the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, were seen in an opinion piece in The New York Times to have parallels, crucially a deep distrust in officials and a belief in conspiracy theories, in particular QAnon.

A joint study by ZEW and HU Berlin, published in February 2021, concluded that between 16,000 and 21,000 coronavirus infections could have been prevented by Christmas if two large rallies in Berlin and Leipzig in November 2020 had not taken place. The methodology of the study and its conclusions were criticized by two academics as not solid.

In an interview published in April 2021, author and expert on far-right movements Karolin Schwarz stated that Querdenken was exhibiting cognitive dissonance insofar as the movement readily adopted those reports from mainstream media that fitted its narrative, even though it considered the same media as uncritically reporting whatever the government wanted them to report. She said that attacks on journalists had become "standard" at Querdenken protests. She opined that the movement was justifying these attacks through espousing the notion that it was them, not the media, who stood for freedom, or through narratives – which she dismissed as false – that there had been agent provocateurs at rallies. She said that police was falling short in fulfilling its legal requirement to protect journalists at Querdenken rallies, and that no attempts were made by the movement to exclude right-wing extremists from demonstrations. She further said that the stories propagated at Querdenken rallies were at least in contravention of the German constitution, a recurring theme being the intention of the protesters to have the people in power be ousted in a putsch; and that, while rallies did not feature classical narratives of the extreme right, antisemitic conspiracy stories were being disseminated.

Broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk cited in May 2021 from an interview with historian Jens-Christian Wagner. In it, Wagner pointed to a social dimension of the Querdenken protests, arguing that since the protesters had not lost "really important basic rights" such as the freedom of speech and the right of vote, it was more likely that they were concerned by consumer rights such as going to restaurants, going shopping or flying for tourism. He considered this to be plausible on the grounds of many protesters belonging to the well-earning middle class. He further said that the protesters' understanding of basic rights was directed primarily "against the fundamental idea of societal solidarity" and further against the government which they, due to being under the influence of "conspiracy legends", considered to be a fascist dictatorship.

On 16 September 2021, Facebook moved to delete nearly 150 accounts and groups connected to Querdenken on Facebook and Instagram, including those of Michael Ballweg, the movement's founder. Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, called it the first action worldwide against a group that is causing a "coordinated damaging of society".

Miscellany

In a tweet posted on 1 August 2020, Saskia Esken, co-leader of the Social Democrats, referred to participants of the Berlin rally on that day as "Covidioten", the German equivalent of covidiots. Hundreds of citizens filed complaints for insult; prosecutors did not start investigations, however, as they regarded this utterance as being covered under freedom of speech laws.

The term Coronadiktatur ("corona dictatorship"), which had gained popularity with protesters when referring to the German government, was one of two selected words for the Un-word of the year of 2020.

The attacks on journalists 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.

From within the Querdenken scene, a new party, de:Basisdemokratische Partei Deutschland ("Die Basis") was founded in July 2020. It participated in the day of protests in Berlin on 28 August 2021 with a rally of about 2,000 participants. The party participated in the 2021 German federal election achieving 1.4% of the vote federally and thus failing to surpass the electoral threshold.

References

^ Oswald, Bernd (7 February 2021). "Querdenker: Wer sie sind - und wie sich die Bewegung entwickelt" (in German). Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
"Verfassungsschutz erwartet auch in BW mehr politische Demos samt Extremisten". SWR (in German). 14 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
Martyr, Kate (16 April 2020). "Top German court: Coronavirus restrictions not grounds to ban all protests". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 13 December 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
von Hammerstein, Leonie (3 October 2020). "Germany's coronavirus skeptics: Tactics from the Middle Ages". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
Morris, Loveday; Glucroft, William (3 July 2020). "Prospect of a coronavirus vaccine unites anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and hippie moms in Germany". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
Kluge, Christoph (1 May 2020). "Verschwörungstheorien zum Coronavirus – und ein Streit um Bill Gates". tagesspiegel.de (in German). Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
^ Vogts, Hanning (12 April 2021). "Feindbild der "Querdenken"-Bewegung: "Ein hohes Gewaltpotenzial" gegenüber Medien (interview with Karolin Schwarz)". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
Hänel, Lisa (10 May 2020). "Coronavirus anger foments violence against journalists". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
"Demonstrators attack, obstruct journalists covering protests against COVID-19 lockdown in Germany". CPJ. 21 August 2020. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
^ "20 000 bei Corona-Demo: Festnahmen und Wasserwerfer" (in German). dpa. 20 March 2021. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2021 – via zeit.de.
^ Berry, Alex (20 April 2021). "Reporters Without Borders: Press freedoms under pressure in pandemic". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
^ Morris, Loveday; Beck, Luisa (12 November 2020). "Germany's protests against coronavirus restrictions are becoming increasingly radical". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
^ "Germany puts anti-lockdown Querdenker group under observation". Deutsche Welle. 28 April 2021. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
^ Schuetze, Christopher F. (28 April 2021). "German Intelligence Puts Coronavirus Deniers Under Surveillance". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
Böhme, Christian; von Salzen, Claudia (6 May 2021). "Antisemitismusbeauftragter für Verbot des gelben Sterns auf Demonstrationen". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 3 February 2022.
^ Knapp, Ursula; Thomasson, Emma; Jones, Gareth (5 December 2020). "German court upholds ban on coronavirus demonstration". Reuters.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
^ "Demos von Lockdown-Gegnern und Corona-Leugnern" (in German). Deutsche Welle. 12 December 2020. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
"German courts ban 'Querdenker' anti-lockdown demos". Deutsche Welle. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
^ "What are Germany's new coronavirus social distancing rules?". Deutsche Welle. 22 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
Hill, Jenny (1 June 2020). "Coronavirus: Germany divided as states lift lockdown". bbc.com. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
Staudenmaier, Rebecca (27 April 2020). "Coronavirus: Germany's new face mask regulations explained". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
"Polizei nimmt nach Demonstration in Mitte Personalien auf". Berliner Morgenpost / dpa. 28 March 2020. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
Meier, Svenja (8 August 2020). ""Hygiene-Demos sind eine diffuse, kurzfristige Erscheinung" (Interview with protest researcher Dieter Rucht)". zeit.de (in German). Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
Sundermeyer, Olaf (28 May 2020). "Das radikale Ende der Corona-Proteste". rbb.de (in German). Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
"Corona: Campact warnt vor "Hygiene"-Demonstrationen". Norddeutscher Rundfunk (ndr.de) (in German). 15 May 2020. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
^ Plümper, Thomas; Neumayer, Eric; Pfaff, Katharina Gabriela (2021). "The strategy of protest against Covid-19 containment policies in Germany". Social Science Quarterly. 102 (5): 2236–2250. doi:10.1111/ssqu.13066. PMC 8662088. PMID 34908611.
"Nächste Corona-Demo in Stuttgart für Mitte April angekündigt". T-Online (in German). 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
"Verfassungsschützer warnt vor immer radikaleren Corona-Leugnern". FAZ (in German). 6 November 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
^ Dubois, Laura (21 December 2020). "Anti-coronavirus protests in Germany: Who are the 'lateral thinkers?'". dpa. Archived from the original on 21 December 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
Vooren, Christian (28 October 2020). ""Die Radikalen gehen jetzt erst recht auf die Straße" (Interview with Josef Holnburge)". zeit.de (in German). Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
Callison, William; Slobodian, Quinn (5 January 2021). "Coronapolitics from the Reichstag to the Capitol". Boston Review. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
Schneider, Annika; Klein, Isabelle (21 December 2020). ""Eine Abgrenzung findet überhaupt nicht statt" (Interview with Katharina Nocun)" (in German). Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
Pantenburg, Johannes; Reichardt, Sven; Sepp, Benedikt (15 January 2021). "Corona-Proteste und das (Gegen-)Wissen sozialer Bewegungen" (in German). Federal Agency for Civic Education. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
Bilger, Christine (27 January 2021). "Autokorso mit mehreren Hundert Teilnehmern". Stuttgarter Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 6 February 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
Bernstein, Martin (7 February 2021). "Schneeregen am Sonntagabend erwischt Corona-Skeptiker kalt". Sueddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
"Corona-Proteste in Chemnitz und Mannheim". Berliner Zeitung / dpa (in German). 6 February 2021. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
Jakobi, Lydia (17 June 2021). "Politologe: "Querdenker" suchen sich neue Themen" (in German). MDR. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
Steffen, Tilman (27 December 2021). "Impfziel verfehlt". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 30 January 2022.
^ Peikert, Denise; Huesmann, Felix; Sternberg, Jan (8 December 2021). "Proteste der Impfgegner: Immun gegen die Vernunft". RND (in German). Retrieved 30 January 2022.
Thurau, Jens (21 November 2021). "COVID highlights a geographic split in Germany". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
"Notfallverordnung statt Corona-Schutzverordnung in Sachsen" (in German). MDR. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
^ Kinkarz, Sabine (6 December 2021). "Germany: Torchlit rally against COVID measures in Saxony prompts outcry". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
Locke, Stefan (3 January 2022). "Sachsen streitet über Beschränkung des Demonstrationsrechts". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 25 January 2022.
"Polizei stoppt Corona-Demonstrationen in mehreren sächsischen Städten" (in German). MDR. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
^ Schulenburg, Jonathan; Orth, Christian (18 December 2021). ""Spaziergänge": Ein falsches Narrativ in Corona-Zeiten". Bayerischer Rundfunk (in German). Retrieved 23 January 2022.
"Innenministerin Faeser: Radikale bei Corona-Protesten in der Minderheit". RND (in German). 5 January 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
"Innenministerin Faeser will Querdenker-Fackelläufe "nicht durchgehen lassen"". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
Perrone, Alessio; Loucaides, Darren (10 March 2022). "A key source for Covid-skeptic movements, the Epoch Times yearns for a global audience". Coda Media. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
Schumacher, Elizabeth (8 December 2021). "German police investigating anti-vax assassination plot against Saxony leader Michael Kretschmer". Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
"Erste Vernehmungen nach Morddrohungen gegen Kretschmer" (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche (14 April 2022). "German police arrest far-right extremists over plans to 'topple democracy'". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
"German health minister says would-be kidnappers aimed to destabilise state". Reuters. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
^ "Germany: COVID protests put police under 'huge strain'". Deutsche Welle. 29 December 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
Bernstein, Martin; Effern, Heiner; Hans, Julian (15 March 2021). "Zwischen Zorn und Zollstock". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
"Polizei setzt Wasserwerfer gegen "Querdenker" und ihre Gegner ein". www.hessenschau.de (in German). Hessischer Rundfunk. 15 November 2020. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
Fürstenau, Marcel (28 March 2021). "Corona-"Querdenker": Friede, Freude, Feinde" (in German). Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021 – via msn.com.
^ Reisin, Andrej (26 March 2021). "Schaut die Polizei weg?". tagesschau.de (in German). Archived from the original on 26 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
^ "German conspiracists protest against coronavirus lockdown". dw.com. 25 April 2020. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
^ "'I want my life back': Germans protest against lockdown". Reuters. 25 April 2020. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
"Polizei schreitet bei Demo vor Reichstag ein – Festnahmen". Berliner Morgenpost (in German). 9 May 2020. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
"More than 130 detained after protests against coronavirus restrictions in Germany". Euronews / AP. 9 May 2020. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
^ 'Wer zu den Corona-Demos aufgerufen hat' ('Who called for the corona demos') Archived 31 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine. ZDF, 29 August 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
Querdenken 711 – Manifesto, version 2 May 2020, official English version. (Routed from their homepage https://querdenken-711.de/ Archived 24 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine) Retrieved 18 September 2020.
"German coronavirus protests show low turnout". Deutsche Welle. 23 May 2020. Archived from the original on 12 December 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
Janjevic, Darko (9 May 2020). "Germany: Thousands of protesters slam isolation measures". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
Frederik Pleitgen (1 August 2020). "Thousands gather in Berlin to protest against Covid-19 restrictions". CNN. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
'Corona-Demo in Berlin: Fake News über Zahl der Teilnehmer' ('corona demo in Berlin: fake news over number of participants') Archived 24 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. tagesschau.de, 2 August 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
"#Faktenfuchs: Wie viele Leute waren auf Corona-Demo in Berlin?" (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. 3 August 2020. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
Auf der ersten Corona-Demo in Berlin waren doch 30.000 Menschen. Archived 1 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine tagesspiegel.de, 28 August 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
Sternberg, Jan (23 August 2020). "AfD mobilisiert Teilnehmer für Demonstration gegen Corona-Maßnahmen in Berlin". RND. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
Wienand, Lars (28 August 2020). "Mit Gandhi und Gewalttätern gegen Corona und Regierung" (in German). T-Online. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
Kamann, Matthias; Naumann, Annelie (31 August 2020). "Demonstrieren mit Rechtsextremen? Die AfD bedauert nur eines". Die Welt (in German). Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
NRC Handelsblad, 3 September 2020.
^ "Fast 40.000 Menschen bei Corona-Demos – Sperren am Reichstag durchbrochen" [Almost 40,000 people at corona demos – fences at the Reichstag broken through] (in German). RBB. 29 August 2020. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
^ "Germany coronavirus: Hundreds arrested in German 'anti-corona' protests". BBC News. 30 August 2020. Archived from the original on 4 September 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
^ "Innensenator Geisel will Maskenpflicht auf Demonstrationen". rbb24.de (in German). 31 August 2020. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
"Demo von Corona-Gegnern am Samstag kann stattfinden". RBB (in German). 29 February 2020. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
^ 'Thousands of Covid-deniers protest in Berlin and London' Archived 28 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. CNN, 30 August 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
"Eskalation am Reichstag: Polizei nahm offenbar Mann mit Revolver fest" [Escalation at the Reichstag: police has apparently arrested a man with a gun]. RND. 31 August 2020. Archived from the original on 7 September 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
Potter, Nicholas (3 September 2020). "Framing des "Reichstag-Sturms" Zwischen Verherrlichung und Verharmlosung" [Framing the "storming of the Reichstag" between glorification and minimization]. www.belltower.news. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020.
"Germany coronavirus: Anger after attempt to storm parliament". BBC News. 30 August 2020. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
^ "Mehr als 90 Corona-Proteste mit rechtsextremen Wortführern". zeit.de / dpa (in German). 6 September 2020. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
"Coronavirus skeptic marches in Munich and Hannover stopped by police". Deutsche Welle. 12 September 2020. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
Effern, Heiner; Schubert, Andreas (12 September 2020). "Der Tanz um die Maske". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 24 October 2022.
Jones, Timothy (20 September 2020). "Germany: Thousands march at coronavirus skeptics rally in Dusseldorf". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
"Germany: Thousands protest for and against coronavirus measures". Deutsche Welle. 4 October 2020. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
Zimmermann, Konstantin; Sokola, Ivana (10 November 2020). "Sachsen verschärft Corona-Regeln nach Querdenken-Demo". Die Zeit (in German). Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
^ "Police break up large Berlin protests as Germany passes tougher coronavirus laws". Deutsche Welle. 18 November 2020. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
"Polizei-Bilanz: Fast 80 verletzte Beamte bei Corona-Demo". Berliner Morgenpost (in German). 19 November 2020. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.(subscription required)
Priess, Sabine (19 November 2020). ""Bei 30 Grad hätte der Einsatz so sicherlich weniger Sinn gemacht" (Interview of Police Director Stephan Katte)". rbb24.de. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
Thurau, Jens (19 November 2020). "Anti-coronavirus protests: How safe is the German parliament?". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
Fröhlich, Alexander; Ismar, Georg; Thewalt, Anna (20 November 2020). "Rechten Youtubern drohen Strafen". tagesspiegel.de (in German). Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
Föderl-Schmid, Alexandra (19 November 2020). "Die Störer wollen die Demokratie zersetzen". Sueddeutsche.de (in German). Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
"Hausverbot im Bundestag für Teilnehmer von Störaktion". Nuernberger Blatt (in German). 14 January 2021. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
^ "Corona-Demo in Leipzig endet im Polizeikessel". Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (in German). 22 November 2020. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
^ Klormann, Sybille; Süßmann, Johannes (21 November 2020). "Polizei kontrolliert teilweise unübersichtliche Lage in Leipzig". Die Zeit (in German). zeit.de / dpa. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
"Coronavirus: German anti-lockdown protests shift to Polish border". Deutsche Welle. 28 November 2020. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
^ Russew, G.; Schleiermacher, U.; Schwaß, R. (28 November 2020). ""Querdenker" demonstrieren länderübergreifend gegen Corona-Einschränkungen". rbb.de (in German). Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
"Bremer Polizei zieht Bilanz: Illegale Corona-Demos, Hunderte Anzeigen". butenunbinnen.de (in German). 5 December 2020. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
^ Hild, Peter. "Massive Polizeipräsenz bei Düsseldorfer "Querdenken"-Demo". WDR (in German). Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln. Archived from the original on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
Kensbock, Verena (25 November 2020). "Corona-Gegner wollen am 6. Dezember in Düsseldorf demonstrieren". RP Online (in German). RP Digital GmbH. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
^ "Germany: Protests against coronavirus restrictions leave 12 Dresden officers injured". Deutsche Welle. 14 March 2021. Archived from the original on 15 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
""Querdenker" demonstrieren gegen Corona-Maßnahmen". Wiesbadener Kurier (in German). 13 March 2021. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
^ "Trotz Demo-Verbots: Proteste gegen Corona-Politik in Dresden" (in German). T-Online. 13 March 2021. Archived from the original on 13 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
^ Jones, Timothy (20 March 2021). "Germany: Anti-lockdown protest turns violent in Kassel". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 26 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
"20 000 bei Corona-Demo: Festnahmen und Wasserwerfer" (in German). dpa. 20 March 2021. Archived from the original on 20 March 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2021 – via Süddeutsche Zeitung.
"Corona-Demo in Stuttgart: Tausende ohne Masken und Angriffe am Rande der Proteste" (in German). Südwestrundfunk. 4 April 2021. Archived from the original on 5 April 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
'"Querdenken" in Frankfurt: Unzufrieden mit der Corona-Politik' ("Querdenken" in Frankfurt: discontented with the corona policies) Archived 2 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Frankfurter Rundschau, 11 April 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
^ Eydlin, Alexander; Stephanowitz, Johann; Groll, Tina (21 April 2021). "150 Festnahmen bei Protesten gegen Corona-Politik". Die Zeit (in German). Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
^ "Coronademo zum geänderten Infektionsschutzgesetz am 21.04.2021 in Berlin" (in German). Jüdisches Forum für Demokratie und gegen Antisemitismus e.V. 21 April 2021. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
Geiler, Julius; Fröhlich, Alexander; Krause, Sophie; Haarbach, Madlen; Kluge, Christoph; Schröter, Tilman (21 April 2021). "250 Festnahmen bei "Querdenker"-Demos – Anwohner applaudieren Polizei". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
"Verwaltungsgericht bestätigt weitere Demo-Verbote für "Querdenker"" (in German). RBB. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
"COVID: Berlin court bans anti-lockdown protests". Deutsche Welle. 31 July 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
"Coronavirus: Berlin anti-lockdown protesters clash with police". Deutsche Welle. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
^ "950 Festnahmen bei "Querdenker"-Protesten - die meisten nicht aus Berlin" (in German). RBB. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
^ "Berliner Polizei prüft Gewaltvorwürfe nach Demos gegen Corona-Politik" (in German). RBB. 5 August 2021. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
"Polizeigewalt: UN-Berichterstatter will Stellungnahme". Die Zeit (in German). dpa. 5 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ ""Querdenker" wollen Absperrung durchbrechen - Polizei setzt Pfefferspray ein" (in German). RBB. 28 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
^ Culatto, John (28 August 2021). "Germany: Thousands march in Berlin against COVID rules". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
Connolly, Kate (21 May 2020). "Germany braced for more protests against coronavirus policies". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
^ "Thousands protest in Berlin against COVID curbs, vaccines". Reuters. 29 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
^ "Mehrere Tausend "Querdenker" setzen sich über Demo-Verbote hinweg" (in German). RBB. 29 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
Copley, Caroline (16 August 2021). "German panel recommends all 12-17-year-olds get COVID-19 shot". Reuters. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
Dobberke, Cay (17 September 2021). "Aggressiver Protest gegen Schülerimpfungen". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 2 October 2021.
Pfeifer, Henning; Rauch, Anton (15 September 2021). "Impfaktion in Schule: Gegner attackieren mobiles Impfteam" (in German). BR. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
"Corona-Impfaktion an Schulen blockiert: BW-Regierung kritisiert Gegner" (in German). 23 September 2021. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
"Demonstration gegen Corona-Maßnahmen in Hamburg" (in German). NDR. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
"Germany: Six Mannheim police injured in protests against COVID restrictions". Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle. 14 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
"Tausende bei Corona-Protesten in Deutschland". Deutsche Welle (in German). Deutsche Welle. 18 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
"Germany: Thousands protest against COVID measures across country". Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle. 18 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
Silk, John (21 December 2021). "Germany: Police injured amid anti-COVID measures protest". Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
Halasz, Stephanie (27 December 2021). "Protest against Covid measures turn violent in Germany". CNN. CNN News. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
Miller, Jonas (27 December 2021). "Gewaltsame Corona-Proteste in Schweinfurt – Anzeige gegen Mutter". BR. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
Bahgat, Farah (15 January 2022). "Germany: Thousands protest coronavirus pandemic policies". Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
Götschenberg, Michael. "Berliner Verfassungsschutz beobachtet Corona-Protestbewegung". tagesschau.de (in German). Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
Caspari, Lisa (13 May 2020). ""Wer über eine Corona-Diktatur redet, zeigt wenig Ahnung" (Interview of Oliver Lepsius)". zeit.de (in German). Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
"Wissenschaftler: "Demonstrierende nicht pauschal ausgrenzen"". RND. 16 May 2020. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
Fiedler, Maria; Starzmann, Paul (10 May 2020). "Wen ziehen die Corona-Proteste an?". tagesspiegel.de (in German). Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
Köhler, Michael (30 August 2020). ""Die Friedlichen müssen sich von den Rechtsextremen abgrenzen" (Interview with Heribert Prantl)". Deutschlandfunk (in German). Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
Florin, Christiane (27 December 2020). ""Bösartige Mythen und Unterstellungen" (Interview with Josef Schuster)" (in German). Deutschlandfunk. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
Sauerbrey, Anna (8 January 2021). "Far-Right Protesters Stormed Germany's Parliament. What Can America Learn?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
Sugue, Merlin (9 February 2021). "German anti-lockdown protests led to more coronavirus cases, study finds". Politico. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
Schamann, Simone (11 February 2021). "Experten zerpflücken Studie über Querdenken-Demos". Nordkurier (in German). Archived from the original on 22 February 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
Lang, Jürgen P. (7 May 2021). "Analyse: Was "Querdenker" mit Freiheit meinen" (in German). Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
"Seiten von Corona-Leugnern – Facebook löscht "Querdenken"-Kanäle" [Pages of Corona deniers – Facebook deletes "Querdenken" channels] (in German). Tagesschau. 16 September 2021.
Gleicher, Nathaniel; Rens, Semjon (16 September 2021). "Entfernung neuer Arten von bedrohlichen Netzwerken" [Removal of new kinds of menacing networks]. fb.com (in German). Facebook. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
Schiermeyer, Matthias (8 September 2020). "'Covidioten' bleibt folgenlos". Stuttgarter Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
Iser, Jurik Caspar (12 January 2021). ""Rückführungspatenschaften" und "Corona-Diktatur" sind Unwörter 2020". Die Zeit. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
Leber, Sebastian (6 May 2021). "Partei für Energetiker, Aidsleugner und Holocaustverharmloser". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 15 September 2021.
"Erneut Dutzende Festnahmen bei Protesten gegen Corona-Maßnahmen". Die Welt (in German). dpa / AFP. 29 August 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
"Diese 53 Parteien können teilnehmen". tagesschau.de (in German). 9 July 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2021.

COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 (disease)
SARS-CoV-2 (virus)

Timeline

Pre-pandemic	Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) Crimson Contagion Disease X Event 201 Exercise Cygnus 2019 responses
2020	January responses February responses March responses April responses May responses June responses July responses August responses September responses October responses November responses December responses
2021	January responses February responses March responses April responses May responses June responses July responses August responses September responses October responses November responses December responses
2022	January responses February responses March responses April responses May responses June responses July responses August responses September responses October responses November December
2023	Timeline

Locations

Africa

Northern	Algeria Canary Islands Ceuta Egypt Libya Mauritania Melilla Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Eastern	Burundi Comoros Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Madagascar Mauritius Mayotte Réunion Rwanda Seychelles Somalia Puntland Somaliland South Sudan Tanzania Uganda
Southern	Angola Botswana Eswatini Lesotho Malawi Mozambique Namibia South Africa list of deaths Zambia Zimbabwe
Central	Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Gabon São Tomé and Príncipe
Western	Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Equatorial Guinea Gambia Ghana timeline 2020 March–July August–December 2021 government response impact education Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria government response Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Senegal Sierra Leone Togo

Asia

Central/North

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Russia
- timeline
  - January–June
  - July–December
- impact
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

East

Hong Kong Japan timeline Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics North Korea South Korea Macau Mongolia Taiwan respirator diplomacy
Mainland China	lockdown detail statistics vaccination Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics Heilongjiang Henan Hubei Inner Mongolia Liaoning Shanghai 2022 outbreak Sichuan Tibet Xinjiang

South

India

By location

Southeast

Brunei Cambodia East Timor Indonesia timeline 2021 social restrictions Community Activities Restrictions Enforcement Laos Myanmar Singapore timeline 2020 2021 2022 circuit breaker response vaccination statistics Thailand timeline vaccination statistics Vietnam timeline government response
Malaysia	impact social economic political Aid and relief efforts movement control order Tablighi Jamaat COVID-19 hotspot timeline 2020 2021 2022 2023 statistics Johor Kuala Lumpur Sabah Sarawak Selangor
Philippines	timeline 2020 2021 2022 government response community quarantines Luzon evacuations testing controversy vaccination Bangsamoro Bicol Region Cagayan Valley Calabarzon Caraga Central Luzon Central Visayas Cordillera Davao Region Eastern Visayas Ilocos Region Metro Manila Mimaropa Northern Mindanao Soccsksargen Western Visayas Zamboanga Peninsula Overseas Filipinos

West

Europe

United Kingdom

history timeline January–June 2020 July–December 2020 January–June 2021 July–December 2021 January–June 2022 July–December 2022 2023 responses government response response Operation Rescript contracts impact social economic education
By location	England timeline 2020 January–June July–December 2021 2022 London local lockdown regulations first tier regulations Northern Ireland timeline 2020 2021 2022 Scotland timeline 2020 2021 2022 Wales timeline 2020 2021 2022 Crown Dependencies Isle of Man Jersey Guernsey Overseas territories Akrotiri and Dhekelia British Indian Ocean Territory Gibraltar

Eastern

Belarus
- timeline
  - 2020
  - 2021
  - 2022
Kazakhstan
Moldova
- Gagauzia
- Transnistria
Russia
- timeline
  - January–June 2020
  - July–December 2020
- government responses
- political impact
Turkey
- timeline
Ukraine
- Crimea
- Sevastopol

Western Balkans

European Union

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
- timeline
Cyprus
- Northern Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
- Faroe Islands
Estonia
Finland
- Åland
France
- Guadeloupe
- French Guiana
- Réunion
- Martinique
- Mayotte
- Normandy
- Saint Martin
Germany
- North Rhine-Westphalia
- government response
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
- timeline
  - 2020
  - 2021
  - 2022
- economic impact
- social impact
- vaccination
Italy
- lockdowns
- timeline
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
- government response
Poland
Portugal
Romania
- timeline
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
- timeline
- Asturias
- Canary Islands
- Ceuta
- Community of Madrid
- Melilla
Sweden
- government response
  - Operation Gloria

EFTA countries

Microstates

North
America

Atlantic

Canada

timeline
economic impact
- federal aid
vaccination
- by province
military response
Atlantic Bubble
Alberta
- timeline
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ontario
- timeline
  - 2020
  - 2021
  - 2022
- Ottawa
- Peel Region
- Toronto
- York Region
- Provincial government response
- Vaccination
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
- Montreal
  - boroughs
Saskatchewan
- timeline
Yukon

Caribbean

Countries

British Overseas Territories

Aruba Curaçao Sint Maarten
Caribbean Netherlands	Bonaire Saba Sint Eustatius

French West Indies

US insular areas

Central America

United States

Trump administration communication timeline 2020 2021 social impact economic impact 2021 hospital crisis
responses	federal government state and local governments California government response New York government response Texas government response Eastern States Multi-state Council Midwest Governors Regional Pact Western States Pact
By location	Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Navajo Nation Arkansas California timeline S.F. Bay Area Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland timeline Massachusetts timeline Boston timeline Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada timeline New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York New York City timeline North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Columbus Oklahoma Oregon Portland Pennsylvania Philadelphia Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas timeline Austin U.S. Virgin Islands Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington, D.C. White House West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Oceania

American Samoa Cook Islands Easter Island Federated States of Micronesia Fiji French Polynesia Guam Hawaii Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Caledonia Niue Northern Mariana Islands Palau Papua New Guinea Bougainville Pitcairn Islands Samoa Solomon Islands Tokelau Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Wallis and Futuna
Australia	timeline 2020 2021 January–June July–December 2022 Australian Capital Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands New South Wales Norfolk Island Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia
New Zealand	timeline 2020 2021 2022 2023 economic impact government response Alert levels Traffic light system social impact managed isolation

South
America

Others

Impact

Culture and
entertainment

Arts and
cultural heritage

Education

Female education Homeschooling
By country	Ghana Ireland United Kingdom exam grading controversy United States

Sports

Bio-secure bubble
By country	Ireland Philippines
By sport	Association football Baseball Basketball NBA Combat sports Cricket Disc golf Gaelic games Gridirion football (NCAAF, NFL, and CFL) Ice hockey Motorsport Rugby league

Society
and rights

Social impact	Social media Stigma COVID-19 parties Children foster care in the U.S. Pandemic baking
Labor	Healthcare workers Indian migrant workers Great Resignation Strikes
Human rights	Argentina Hong Kong Myanmar North Korea Turkmenistan
Legal	Abortion in the U.S. Crime Domestic violence Prisons U.S. immigration detention
Minority	Gender LGBT community African communities Disability community Native American communities Xenophobia and racism
Religion	Catholic Church Hajj

Economic

Charitable activity COVID-19 scams Travel restrictions
By country	Canada India Ireland COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment Malaysia New Zealand Russia U.K. U.S.
By industry	Aviation Airlines Cannabis industry Food industry meat industry in Canada meat industry in the U.S. restaurant industry in the U.S. Hospitals ICU capacity Long-term care facilities Mink farming Public transport Retail Tourism
Supply and trade	Shortages Chip supply Energy Global supply chain Oil price war Food security
Financial markets	Global stock market crash COVID-19 recession Inflation

Information

Journalism Media coverage Misplaced Pages's response
Misinformation	Governments China United States By country Canada Philippines Ivermectin Plandemic

Politics

National responses Legislation European Union
Political impact	Ireland Malaysia Russia
Protests	Abkhazia Argentina Australia Convoy to Canberra Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Brazil 2020 protests 2021 protests Bulgaria Canada convoy protest Chile China Beijing Sitong Bridge protest healthcare reform protests Colombia 2021 protests 2022 protests Cuba France Yellow vests protests labor protests French West Indies social unrest convoy protest Germany Idar-Oberstein shooting Greece Israel protests against Benjamin Netanyahu Italy Mongolia Netherlands curfew riots New Zealand Wellington protest Paraguay Serbia Tunisia United Kingdom United States Open the States
International relations	Aid Italy Moldovan–Romanian collaboration Nicaragua–Taiwan relations Respirator diplomacy of Taiwan Vaccine diplomacy

Language

Others

Health issues

Medical topics

Testing and
epidemiology

Apps

Aarogya Setu
BlueTrace
careFIJI
Coronavirus Australia
Corona-Warn-App
COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application
COVID Alert (Canada)
COVID AlertSA (South Africa)
COVIDSafe
COVID Tracker Ireland
Covid Watch
Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing
Exposure Notification
Health Code
Healthy Together
Immuni
Koronavilkku
LeaveHomeSafe
MySejahtera
NHS COVID-19
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ Pass Verifier
PathCheck
PeduliLindungi
SafeEntry
SafePass
StaySafe.ph
SwissCovid
TCN Protocol
Test, Trace, Protect
Thai Chana
TousAntiCovid
TraceTogether
Valtrace
Zoe Health Study

Prevention

Vaccines

Topics

Authorized

DNA	ZyCoV-D
Inactivated	Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences CoronaVac Covaxin COVIran Barekat CoviVac (Russia) FAKHRAVAC Minhai QazCovid-in Sinopharm BIBP Sinopharm WIBP Turkovac Valneva
mRNA	Moderna Pfizer–BioNTech
Subunit	Abdala Corbevax (Bio E COVID-19) COVAX-19 EpiVacCorona IndoVac MVC Noora Novavax Razi Cov Pars Sinopharm CNBG Soberana 02 Soberana Plus ZF2001 (Zifivax)
Viral vector	Convidecia Janssen Oxford–AstraZeneca Sputnik V Sputnik Light
Virus-like particles	CoVLP

In trials

Attenuated	COVI-VAC (United States)
DNA	AG0302-COVID‑19 GX-19 Inovio
Inactivated	KD-414 NDV-HXP-S
RNA	ARCT-021 ARCT-154 Bangavax CureVac (terminated) HGC019 mRNA-1283 PTX-COVID19-B Sanofi–Translate Bio (terminated) Stemirna COVID-19 vaccine Walvax
Subunit	202-CoV AKS-452 EuCorVac-19 IVX-411 Nanocovax ReCOV Sanofi–GSK S-268019 SCB-2019 SCTV01C Skycovione UB-612 V-01 V451 (terminated) Vabiotech West China Hospital Zhongyianke Biotech–Liaoning Maokangyuan Biotech
Viral vector	AdCLD-CoV19 BriLife COH04S1 DelNS1-2019-nCoV-RBD-OPT GRAd-COV2 ImmunityBio iNCOVACC INNA-051 NDV-HXP-S Vaxart COVID-19 vaccine
Virus-like particles	ABNCoV2 LYB001 MigVax-101 VBI-2902

Deployment
by location

Africa	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Cameroon Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eswatini Ghana Morocco Nigeria Senegal South Africa Zimbabwe
Asia	Bangladesh Bhutan Mainland China India Indonesia Iran Israel Japan Kazakhstan Malaysia Nepal Philippines Russia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates Vietnam
Europe	Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Denmark France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Moldova Norway Portugal Romania Russia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom
North America	Canada Ontario Quebec Cuba Haiti Mexico United States mandates
Oceania	Australia Fiji New Zealand
South America	Argentina Brazil Colombia Peru
Others	Antarctica

Treatment

Drug development Drug repurposing research Baricitinib Dexamethasone Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation Open-source ventilator PANORAMIC trial (UK) RECOVERY Trial (UK) Solidarity trial (WHO)
Monoclonal antibodies	Bamlanivimab/etesevimab Bamlanivimab Etesevimab Bebtelovimab Casirivimab/imdevimab Regdanvimab Sarilumab Sotrovimab Tixagevimab/cilgavimab Tocilizumab
Small molecule antivirals	Broad-spectrum Ensitrelvir Molnupiravir Remdesivir Co-packaged Nirmatrelvir ritonavir

Variants

Specific	Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon Zeta Eta Theta Iota Kappa Lambda Mu Omicron timeline
General	Cluster 5 Lineage B.1.617 Lineage B.1.640.2 Variant of concern

Institutions

Hospitals and
medical clinics

Mainland China

Others

Hospital ships
Garran Surge Centre (Australia)
Hospital El Salvador
SevenHills Hospital (India)
Kemayoran Athletes Village (Indonesia)
Pyongyang General Hospital (North Korea)
Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (Malaysia)
Mega Ligtas COVID Centers (Philippines)
Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre (Sri Lanka)
Sancaktepe Prof. Dr. Feriha Öz Emergency Hospital (Turkey)
Yeşilköy Prof. Dr. Murat Dilmener Emergency Hospital (Turkey)
COVID-19 hospitals in the United Kingdom
- NHS Nightingale Hospitals (England)
- NHS Louisa Jordan (Scotland)
- Dragon's Heart Hospital (Wales)

Organizations

National Cabinet (Australia) ScienceUpFirst (Canada) Wuhan Institute of Virology (China) Independent SAGE (United Kingdom)
Health institutes	Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (African Union) Ghana Infectious Disease Centre (Ghana) Department of Health (Hong Kong) Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (South Korea) National Institute for Communicable Diseases (South Africa) Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan)
Pandemic institutes	National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Board (Australia) COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (Canada) COVID-19 Supply Council (Canada) PREPARE (European Union) National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (India) COVID-19 Response Acceleration Task Force (Indonesia) National Public Health Emergency Team (Ireland) Novel Coronavirus Expert Meeting (Japan) Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (Malaysia) Defeat COVID-19 Ad Hoc Committee (Philippines) Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (Philippines) Central Epidemic Command Center (Taiwan) Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board (Turkey) COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (United Kingdom) Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team (United Kingdom) Joint Biosecurity Centre (United Kingdom) Vaccine Taskforce (United Kingdom) COVID-19 Advisory Board (United States) Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups (United States) White House Coronavirus Task Force (United States) White House COVID-19 Response Team (United States) GACH (Uruguay)
Relief funds	PM CARES Fund (India) SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund (India) Artist Relief (United States)

People

Medical
professionals

Researchers

Officials

WHO

Tedros Adhanom (Director-General of the WHO)
Bruce Aylward (Team lead of WHO-China COVID-19 mission)
Maria Van Kerkhove (Technical Lead for COVID-19 response)
Michael J. Ryan (Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme)

By location

Frank Atherton (Wales)
Ashley Bloomfield (New Zealand)
Catherine Calderwood (Scotland)
Chang Shan-chwen (Taiwan)
Anutin Charnvirakul (Thailand)
Chen Shih-chung (Taiwan)
Kenneth Chuang Yin-ching (Taiwan)
Victor Costache (Romania)
Fabrizio Curcio (Italy)
Carmen Deseda (Puerto Rico)
Jaap van Dissel (the Netherlands)
Christian Drosten (Germany)
Francisco Duque III (Philippines)
Anthony Fauci (United States)
Francesco Paolo Figliuolo (Italy)
Graça Freitas (Portugal)
Henrique Gouveia e Melo (Portugal)
Matt Hancock (United Kingdom)
Hamad Hasan (Lebanon)
Greg Hunt (Australia)
Tony Holohan (Ireland)
Jeong Eun-kyeong (South Korea)
Fahrettin Koca (Turkey)
Li Keqiang (China)
Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez (Mexico)
Michael McBride (Northern Ireland)
Oriol Mitjà (Andorra)
Zweli Mkhize (South Africa)
Doni Monardo (Indonesia)
Alma Möller (Iceland)
Saeed Namaki (Iran)
Ala Nemerenco (Moldova)
Nguyễn Thanh Long (Vietnam)
Noor Hisham Abdullah (Malaysia)
Ali Pilli (Northern Cyprus)
Daniel Salinas (Uruguay)
Jérôme Salomon (France)
Fernando Simón (Spain)
Gregor Smith (Scotland)
Su Ih-jen (Taiwan)
Łukasz Szumowski (Poland)
Theresa Tam (Canada)
Anders Tegnell (Sweden)
Þórólfur Guðnason (Iceland)
Sotiris Tsiodras (Greece)
Harsh Vardhan (India)
Víðir Reynisson (Iceland)
Carla Vizzotti (Argentina)
Vlad Voiculescu (Romania)
Chris Whitty (United Kingdom)
Lawrence Wong (Singapore)
Jeff Zients (United States)

Others

List of deaths due to COVID-19

Data (templates)

Global	Cases, deaths, recoveries by country Tests, cases, tests per capita, cases per capita by country Tests, cases, tests per capita, cases per capita by country subdivision WHO situation reports cases January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 August 2021 deaths World map by countries: confirmed per capita China Hospital beds by country Lockdowns
Africa	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Comoros Egypt Eswatini Ethiopia Ghana cases chart Ivory Coast Kenya Libya Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco (including occupied Western Sahara) Mozambique Nigera cases chart São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone South Africa cases chart South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe cases chart
Americas	Bolivia Brazil Canada by province vaccinations by province Chile by commune Colombia Costa Rica cases chart Cuba Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Mexico cases chart Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru United States by state Uruguay Venezuela
Asia	Afghanistan Armenia Artsakh Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh by division Bhutan cases chart Brunei Cambodia cases chart summary China cases chart confirmed per capita lockdowns by province Hong Kong Macau Cyprus East Timor Egypt Georgia India Indonesia cases chart Iran cases chart Iraq Israel cases chart Japan cases chart Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait cases chart Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia cases chart charts Myanmar cases chart summary Nepal cases chart Oman cases chart Pakistan cases chart Philippines cases chart areas of quarantine vaccinations chart Qatar Russia cases chart by federal subject Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea cases chart vaccinations charts Sri Lanka Syria Taiwan vaccination charts Tajikistan Thailand cases chart Turkey cases chart United Arab Emirates cases chart Uzbekistan cases chart Vietnam statistics charts Yemen
Europe	Albania Austria cases chart Belarus Belgium cases chart Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria cases chart Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark cases chart Faroe Islands Estonia cases chart Finland France cases chart Germany cases chart Greece Hungary Iceland cases chart Ireland cases chart Italy cases chart statistics charts vaccinations chart Kosovo Latvia cases chart Lithuania cases chart Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway cases chart Poland cases chart by voivodeship Portugal cases chart Romania cases chart Russia cases chart by federal subject San Marino Serbia Slovakia cases chart by region Slovenia cases chart Spain cases chart Sweden cases chart Switzerland cases chart Turkey cases chart Ukraine United Kingdom Gibraltar vaccinations chart daily by nation Vatican City
Oceania	Australia by state/territory Fiji French Polynesia New Caledonia New Zealand Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands
Others	Antarctica Diamond Princess

Categories:

Background

Early protests

Emergence of Querdenken (Lateral Thinking) movement

Ebbing of protests in 2021

Renewed rise during fourth and fifth waves of the pandemic

Death threats and foiled plots against politicians

Police response

Protests

April/May 2020

Berlin

Stuttgart

Other cities

1 August 2020, Berlin

29 August 2020, Berlin

12 September 2020, Munich

20 September 2020, Düsseldorf

3–4 October 2020, Konstanz

7 November 2020, Leipzig

18 November 2020, Berlin

21 November 2020, Leipzig

29 November 2020, Frankfurt an der Oder

5 December 2020, Bremen

6 December 2020, Düsseldorf

12 December 2020 - Frankfurt am Main, Dresden, Erfurt

13 March 2021, several German cities

20 March 2021, Kassel

3 April 2021, Stuttgart

11 April 2021, Frankfurt am Main

21 April 2021, Berlin

1 August 2021, Berlin

28–29 August 2021, Berlin

September 2021, Berlin and other cities

11 December 2021, Hamburg

13 December 2021, Mannheim and other cities

18 December 2021, Hamburg and other cities

20 December 2021, Rostock and other cities

26 December 2021, Schweinfurt

15 January 2022, Düsseldorf and other cities

Government, media and public analyses

Miscellany

See also

References