More than 70,000 people in Germany hit the streets late Monday to protest a potential COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Deutsche Welle reports that police intervened in protests in Rostock and Bautzen, though many of the protests were peaceful. Demonstrators turned out across the country, including in Bavaria and Berlin.
Protesters held banners that expressed opposition to a potential move to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory.
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach floated the idea in a tweet that pointed to positive vaccine data from Switzerland.
“Hardly any people who have been boosted die from Covid, and very few people who have been vaccinated,” Mr. Lauterbach tweeted Monday afternoon. “It is the unvaccinated that we must protect. I would prefer that we protect them with a general obligation to vaccinate than with restrictions for everyone again in the fall.”
Austria will make the vaccine mandatory for those 14 and older next month, while Greece and Italy have said older residents must get vaccinated.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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