"We do yet have an exact number of arrests made today, but I can say that a large number of people were detained in the area of the Russian embassy because of attacks on the police. This is a three-digit number," the spokeswoman said, adding that there have been no serious incidents during the protest since then.
Photos and videos from the protests have emerged online.
A spokeswoman for the police confirmed that approximately 18,000 people gathered in the Under den Linden avenue in the German capital’s central Mitte district earlier in the day, but added that the law enforcement agency could not make estimates on how many people subsequently joined the rally. The spokeswoman said that the police are not allowing the protest to start because many demonstrators are not wearing face masks.
However, some demonstrators still marched in downtown Berlin.
When the rally was passing near the Russian diplomatic mission, some protesters started throwing bottles at the police officers.
Anti-coronavirus protests on Saturdays are organised by Stuttgart's Querdenken 711 initiative group that criticizes the government’s response to the pandemic.