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After Berlin's banned COVID-sceptics protest saw violent clashes and as many as 600 arrested in the German capital on Sunday, the German government slammed what it described as riots on Monday.

Ulrike Demmer of the German federal government stressed that there "is no place for violence and right extremism, from anywhere it may come."

The spokesperson of the Ministry of the Interior, Steve Alter on his part underlined the nature of these rallies and added that these were "namely a surveillance object that sees the legitimacy of the state in the foreground, which is hostile to democracy and which endangers security" of the state and its institutions.

Maria Adebahr who acts as the spokesperson of the German Foreign Office took upon herself to clarify the federal government stance on what she called "the harassment, persecution, intimidation, and also towards independent media and the civil society, which includes sports athletes" after Poland offered political asylum to Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya. Earlier in the day, the athlete was received at the Polish embassy before heading to the airport on her way to Warsaw. The Czech Republic also offered their help on Monday.

On Sunday, August 1, Tsimanouskaya refused to board a flight back to Minsk, saying she was taken to the airport by Belarusian team managers against her will. According to Tsimanouskaya, she was forced to fly home early for publicly criticising her coaches, as the athlete had taken to social media to complain about being picked to take part in a 400m relay event on short notice - a discipline she had not prepared to compete in.

The 24-year-old Belarusian sprinter was removed from running the women's 200-meter race on Monday due to her "emotional and psychological state," said a statement from the Belarus Olympic Committee. Tsimanouskaya managed to miss the flight after seeking police protection at the airport.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Ulrike Demmer, Spokesperson of federal government (German): "Despite the prohibition of this demonstration, there were incidents and riots over the weekend, as well as hundreds of arrests. There were also attacks on people from the protest, which the federal government takes with great concern. Violent clashes and abuse of the right to demonstrate is unacceptable. There is no place for violence and right extremism, from anywhere it may come."

SOT, Ulrike Demmer, Spokesperson of federal government (German): "For the concrete case of the attack on the regional chairman of the trade union Verdi, I want to express from here, that we have taken notice from press reports, that people are being attacked arbitrarily. This goes beyond any understanding and is absolutely unacceptable. The clarification of this act is of paramount importance, and I would like to wish to the injured people a soon recovery"

SOT, Steve Alter, Spokesperson of German Federal Ministry Interior (German): "[...] namely a surveillance object that sees the legitimacy of the state in the foreground, which is hostile to democracy and which endangers security, for example, people and groups who, even if they have no internal connection, get together to destabilise and delegitimate the state and the institutions. There is a recognisable pattern since the beginning of the pandemic in these demonstrations, in the floods catastrophe and other cases where there is no external connection, but in the end the goal that unites these individuals and other actors and individual groups is this movement."

SOT, Maria Adebahr, Spokesperson of German Foreign Office (German): "[...] against the civil society in Belarus as it has been in the last weeks as we saw, we strongly condemn the harassment, persecution, intimidation, and also towards independent media and the civil society, which includes sports athletes. Therefore we call on the authorities of Belarus to respect the fundamental democratic rights, thus to allow the freedom of press and expression not only for all citizen, but for the independent media and also for the athletes in Belarus."

#Bundespressekonferenz #Germany #Deutschland #Tsimanouskaya #BerlinAntiCOVID #COVID19 #coronavirus

Video ID: 20210802-035

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