Demonstrations in dozens of countries – VG

On Saturday afternoon, several hundred people gathered at Eidsvoll Square in front of the Storting. The audience stood close together without a bandage. From the stage, there were speeches of rage against the authorities’ corona measures, skepticism towards vaccines and other things, such as contempt for the media.

The initiators of Saturday’s event in Oslo write on Facebook that they are part of a worldwide demonstration against the measures. The event’s page lists markings in over 40 countries.

“Red hats – Freedom over fear” is the organizer of the event, where 199 have pressed for them to participate. Very strong words are used about the authorities’ measures on the organizer’s various Facebook pages: Among other things, it is claimed that “We have experienced abuse of our physical / personal autonomy through mask orders”.

– This group has held celebrations for many weekends now, and they have announced that they will hold for a while in the future. There have been no major challenges associated with this, and they have met in a number that have not made it problematic to comply with the infection control rules, says operations manager Tor Gulbrandsen in the Oslo police district to VG before Saturday’s demonstration.

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Several arrested in Stockholm

The police estimate that around 300–400 people are gathered on Norrmalmstorg in the middle of central Stockholm. All around there are banners about everything from vaccine resistance to various forms of politician and media contempt.

People broke out in spontaneous appeals, where, among other things, one person talked about that it is nice to see so many people without face masks, says VG’s freelance journalist in Stockholm.

Around ten police cars were present, and the police took away some protesters. A couple of people were arrested.

Pepper spray in Germany

In Germany, too, many people gathered to protest. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.

According to police, several thousand people had turned up for the demonstration on Saturday, which had not been approved in advance. They are also said to have ignored police instructions.

The police used pepper spray and batons against protesters who tried to break the police barrier line. Several are to be arrested.

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The group of protesters is said to be mainly supporters of the so-called Querdenken movement, which consists of corona deniers, right-wing extremist activists and vaccine opponents.

Counter-protesters will eventually also have turned up to show distance to the Querdenken.

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