Angela Merkel extends Germany’s Covid restrictions into next month despite anti-lockdown protests

Germany is set to extend its coronavirus restrictions into April despite mass anti-lockdown protests.  

Thousands of protesters angry at Covid-19 restrictions rallied in cities across Europe over the weekend, even as several nations reimposed partial lockdowns to fight new surges in infections.

A memo from several of Germany’s regions said the country’s partial lockdown should be extended into April because of rising infection rates driven by Covid variants.

Germany is set to extend its coronavirus restrictions into April despite street protests

Thousands of protesters angry at Covid-19 restrictions rallied in cities across Europe over the weekend, even as several nations reimposed partial lockdowns to fight new surges in infections

And the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced on Sunday that she was keen to go ahead with the extension.  

Travel needs to be cut to a minimum, with quarantines and negative tests required for those re-entering Germany, the memo warned.

The prospect of further curbs will infuriate the thousands of protesters who marched against existing restrictions in the Germany city of Kassel on Saturday.

Police there used water cannon, batons and pepper spray to disperse the crowds, which they estimated to number up to 20,000.

The march was organised by activists from both the far left and the far right, as well as peddlers of baseless conspiracy theories about the pandemic and vaccines. 

A memo from several of Germany’s regions said the country’s partial lockdown should be extended into April because of rising infection rates driven by Covid variants. And the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced on Sunday that she was keen to go ahead with the extension

Protesters also marched in Amsterdam, Vienna, the Bulgarian capital Sofia, and Switzerland over the weekend.

Thousands also protested the coronavirus restrictions in London on Saturday, many of them carrying signs promoting coronavirus conspiracy theories.

Britain on Sunday warned the EU over its threat to halt exports of AstraZeneca’s vaccines, in a row that has heightened post-Brexit tensions between London and Brussels.

Travel needs to be cut to a minimum, with quarantines and negative tests required for those re-entering Germany, the memo warned

‘If contracts get broken, and undertakings, that is a very damaging thing to happen for a trading block that prides itself on the rule of law,’ Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News.

Anglo-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca has delivered only 30 percent of the 90 million doses it promised the EU for the first quarter, infuriating European leaders and complicating the continent’s already struggling rollout.

Brussels has accused London of operating its own de facto export ban to achieve its vaccine success, a claim furiously denied by the British government.