Covid sceptics form chain on Swiss-German border

Covid sceptics holding hands in Kreuzlingen Keystone

Critics of restrictive coronavirus measures have formed a human chain on the shores of Lake Constance, straddling Switzerland and Germany. Counter-protests also took place on Saturday.

The protestors tied themselves together with scarves, bits of cloth or ropes. The human chain stretched on both sides of the border through a park in the German city of Konstanz to Kreuzlingen in Switzerland.

The police spoke of a “very calm” situation and reported about 1,000 participants in the Konstanz area.

The organisers had initially planned for some 15,000 people and were aiming to go around the lake as far as Austria, which, according to television channel n-tv, seemed “very, very difficult”.

Counter-protests

In Kreuzlingen about 60 left-wing demonstrators marched peacefully past the chain of Covid deniers.

Signs on banners included “Spread love, not coronavirus” and “Nazis out – masks on”. Charis Kuntzemüller from the Social Democratic Party Kreuzlingen warned that, under the guise of the pandemic, extremist and racist groups would also join in. That is what the left was protesting against, she said.

“We stand behind the measures of the Federal Office of Public Health,” she added.

Around 30 rallies have been approved for Saturday and Sunday in Konstanz and Kreuzlingen.