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Covid-19

Medical students in Dresden stand up to Covid protesters

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DPA/The Local - news@thelocal.de
Published: 14 Jan, 2022 CET. Updated: Fri 14 Jan 2022 11:08 CET
Medical students in Dresden stand up to Covid protesters
An anti-Covid measures protester confronts students in Dresden on Thursday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Sebastian Kahnert

Medical students in the eastern German city of Dresden lined up in front of their university hospital as a counter protest to a group demonstrating against Covid-19 restrictions.

The students stood in white coats in front of University Hospital Dresden on Thursday evening during the protest which had been called for on social media and messaging services. 

They carried signs that said things like: "vaccinate not rant" and "no power to the reckless".

Photos of the action captured the divisive atmosphere in Germany at the moment, where a small but growing minority of the population have been regularly protesting against Covid restrictions. 

 

The protest march against Covid-19 restrictions in Germany aimed to target the university, but was mostly intercepted by emergency services. Police said the demo was driven by extremists. 

Police officers asked groups of people to disperse and move on. "The situation on the ground was very dynamic," Saxon police said.

Emergency forces secured the grounds of the university hospital, with police cars at every entrance, a DPA reporter said.

Police also aimed to protect the Saxon Parliament and prevent a "larger procession through the city centre".

More than 1,000 officers from Saxony and Thuringia as well as from the federal police were deployed. Two water cannons were used against protesters, while a helicopter circled over the city.

Police said 45 charges for violations of local Covid laws have been filed, and more than 200 administrative offence proceedings have been initiated. Officers also initiated three criminal charges for insulting, and three for resisting law enforcement officers.

Under the current rules, demos with a maximum of 10 people are allowed in Saxony. 

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A series of protests against vaccinations and Covid rules have been taking place. On Monday about 188,000 anti Covid measures demonstrators marched through several German cities, with some clashing with police. 

In total there were more than 1,000 demonstrations throughout the country, including in Lübeck, Cottbus, Rostock and Magdeburg. 

Vocabulary

Covid deniers - (die) Corona-Leugnern

Reckless - rĂĽcksichtslos

Protest march - (der) Demonstrationszug

We’re aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

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Comments (9)

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Anonymous
As an ex virologist I swore an oath as they brave students do to do no harm. These idiots on the anti vax side are doing harm so as a doctor i would refuse to treat them for anything at all. That is not doing harm. It is also doing nothing. The faster these fools get out and die the quicker we get our respect back I am so fed up with my colleagues being abused and our rights disrespected.
ewoods_476632
The medical students have every right to protest being treated like shit (everyone ignoring their advice, calling them tools of the state for advocating vaccination to keep people OUT of the hospital), then having to work extreme overtime for the foreseeable future to take care of patients who cannot get routine or needed care (like cancer screenings and surgeries) in addition to taking care of all the COVID patients. The anti-vaxxers bear at least some responsibility for contributing to the massive number of doctors and nurses leaving the profession because of extreme overwork, and the resulting shortage of doctors to take care of the rest of it. They further abuse the rest of the medical establishment verbally and politically. I don't have a clear answer, but if people refuse vaccination for an illness without a valid medical excuse, and then they land in the hospital with that illness - there should be consequences. They bear the liability for their idiocy. They should get a full bill for their hospitalization costs. Possibly their names should be published in their local newspapers as well.

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