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A video showing just how far authorities in Germany will go to enforce COVID-19 rules has gone viral on social media – it’s hard to believe.
Video goes through the roof
The video, posted online by several German Twitter users, shows police walking through a crowd Saturday night with folding rulers, measuring to make sure people are six feet apart. Some people can be seen holding signs, but it is unclear what is written on them and if the people are part of a larger protest.
As of Sunday afternoon, the video had already been viewed more than 700,000 times, and that number is rising sharply
Strong protests in Germany and Europe
Germany has seen several recent protests against COVID-19 mandates, as have other European cities. On Saturday, Bloomberg News reported that about 8,000 people gathered in downtown Hamburg to protest mandatory vaccinations for children.
Hessian police officers walk with batons through crowds in Frankfurt on 11/12/21 pic.twitter.com/1dkqehSnPt
— stardust (@wirsindsoviele) December 12, 2021
In Vienna, Austria, some 44,000 people gathered on the same day to protest mandatory vaccinations. The protest, the third largest in Europe last month, was reportedly organized by the Freedom Party, a far-right political group.
European officials have recently warned that the new Omicron variant could replace the Delta variant as the predominant COVID-19 strain on the continent, much sooner than expected.
Omicron soon stronger than Delta
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“We expect it to overtake Delta within days, not weeks,” Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, said Friday.
The Public Health Agency also warned that Omicron could overtake Delta in the U.K. by mid-December, citing its “high growth rate” compared with the earlier variant. Preliminary research has found that Omicron appears to be more infectious than Delta and has greater resistance to current COVID vaccines.