People gathering to protest COVID-19 restrictions this weekend could be hit with much larger fines and court injunctions, the city’s top bylaw officer warned Wednesday.
While senior city officials said they’re still reluctant to physically prevent the weekly demonstrations from occurring, hiking fines to the maximum $100,000 and using the courts to forestall them are options.
Related… Germany notes ‘violent potential’ among anti-lockdown protesters
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, said large turnouts of the “Querdenker” (lateral thinker) movement — seen at recent anti-Corona-lockdown protests — harbored “intensified escalation potential.”
The Cologne-based office tasked with upholding Germany’s post-war constitution told newspapers of the Funke Media Group on Thursday that this had been the case at large protests where far-right groups had urged attendance.
