German tower block residents have clashed with police in a failed attempt to escape quarantine as the country battles a new spike in coronavirus cases.
The violence erupted after 200 residents tried to charge through a metal barrier keeping 700 people trapped in their apartment buildings in Göttingen.
Eight police officers were hurt as residents threw stones and bottles during the clashes on Saturday, and one man was arrested last night.
The complex was put in lockdown on Thursday after two people were found to be infected, and 120 people had tested positive by Friday.
Authorities have since employed translators and sent out texts in German and Romanian to try and persuade residents that the lockdown is necessary.
A handful of new clusters including the one in Göttingen have sent Germany’s closely-watched R rate soaring from 0.86 to 2.88 in just three days, and the number of new cases rose from week to week for the first time since March.
Tower block residents in the German city of Göttingen clashed with police in a failed attempt to escape quarantine as the country battles a new spike in coronavirus cases
Eight police officers were hurt as residents threw stones and bottles during the clashes on Saturday, and one man was arrested last night
According to regional broadcaster NDR, around 200 of the 700 tower block residents had tried to break through the barrier during Saturday’s clashes.
Footage which circulated on social media showed some of the protesters throwing a crowd control barrier at police during the scuffle.
Göttingen police chief Uwe Luehrig said police had responded with pepper spray after they came under attack with stones and bottles.
One person was arrested on Sunday evening after police recognised him as one of the rioters, authorities revealed today.
There was no further violence on Sunday, and some residents will be allowed to venture outside in groups of three if they test negative for coronavirus.
Anyone leaving the building would have to sign in and out and wear a face covering on their travels.
Authorities say they now want to provide more information to tower block residents, some of whom appeared not to know why they were in lockdown. Some of the residents are Romanian speakers.
A stone is thrown at police officers standing in front of the residential complex which was put in quarantine after an outbreak of coronavirus cases
Police forces wearing full protective suits prepare to enter the high-rise apartment building, as tensions between residents and authorities rise
Some of the apartments in the tower block are only 200 sq ft large and there are dozens of children living in precarious conditions, authorities say.
Officials say they are providing food and groceries for free during the lockdown and making medical care available.
Germany has been generally praised for its handling of the pandemic, keeping the death rate well below that in Britain, Spain, Italy or France.
However, the number of new cases rose to 3,553 last week compared to 2,290 the week before – ending 10 straight weeks of decline.
The R rate, which shows how many people each virus patient is infecting, leaped from 0.86 on Thursday to 2.88 yesterday.
A figure above 1 means that the number of cases will grow over time, while a rate below 1 means that the outbreak is in decline.
Angela Merkel has previously warned that Germany’s hospitals could be overwhelmed if the rate hovers even slightly above 1.
Health officials say the R rate is more vulnerable to lurching around at the moment because the numbers are still low overall.
The complex was put in lockdown on Thursday after two people were found to be infected, and 120 people had tested positive by Friday.
Germany’s coronavirus reproduction rate has jumped to 2.88, taking infections above the level needed to contain it over the longer term
The largest of the new clusters is linked to a slaughterhouse in North Rhine-Westphalia, where more than 1,300 out of 7,000 workers have tested positive.
The leader of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, has said he ‘cannot rule out a blanket lockdown’ in Germany’s most populous state.
North Rhine-Westphalia accounted for more than half of the 537 new cases announced today, according to the Robert Koch diseases institute (RKI).
Officials in the state have already 7,000 people under quarantine and closed kindergartens and schools close to the abbatoir.
Elsewhere in Germany, further outbreaks have been detected in the cities of Magdeburg, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt and in the Berlin district of Neukölln.
The weekly figure of 3,553 cases is still well below the number seen at the height of the crisis, when 39,167 new cases were added in the week beginning on March 30.
In addition, the latest spike has not yet made any noticeable impression on Germany’s death figures, which remain relatively low.
The RKI reported only three new deaths today and the total for the last week was only 96, compared to 119 the week before.
Germany has recorded a total of 190,359 cases and 8,885 deaths since the pandemic began.