Skip to main content

Man dies after being detained by Berlin police during protest against COVID-19 measures

Share
BERLIN -

Berlin police say a 49-year-old man has died after being detained by officers during protests Sunday against the German government's anti-coronavirus measures.

Police said early Monday that the man had complained of tingling in his arm and chest while officers checked his ID in the capital's Mitte district, where thousands of protesters had rallied despite an official ban on demonstrations.

Officers provided first aid to the man until an ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital, where he later died, police said.

A routine investigation has been opened into the man's death.

About 600 people were detained during the demonstrations, which saw outbursts of violence as protesters defied orders to disperse and tried to break through police lines.

A police spokeswoman said authorities were still trying to determine how many protesters and officers were injured during Sunday's events, which were spread out across a large area.

Among those injured was Joerg Reichel, the head of the German journalists' union dju. Reichel was pulled from his bike, beaten and kicked by protesters, Berlin daily Tagesspiegel reported.

The group Reporters without Borders cited attacks on reporters in Germany during anti-lockdown protesters in its annual World Press Freedom Index that ranked the country two places lower than in 2020.

Germany has relaxed many of the measures imposed during the height of the pandemic, but some requirements to wear masks indoors and present negative COVID-19 tests or certificates of vaccination are still in place.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Mussolini's wartime bunker opens to the public in Rome

After its last closure in 2021, it has now reopened for guided tours of the air raid shelter and the bunker. The complex now includes a multimedia exhibition about Rome during World War II, air raid systems for civilians, and the series of 51 Allied bombings that pummeled the city between July 1943 and May 1944.

WATCH

WATCH Half of Canadians living paycheque-to-paycheque: Equifax

As Canadians deal with a crushing housing shortage, high rental prices and inflationary price pressures, now Equifax Canada is warning that Canadian consumers are increasingly under stress"from the surging cost of living.

Local Spotlight