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BERLIN — Germany’s parliament passed legislation Wednesday that reduces the authority of its state leaders and centralizes powers to control the pandemic in an attempt to enact uniform restrictions across the country.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament building to protest the Infection Protection Act, which mandates nighttime curfews in regions with high infection rates. With Germany in the thick of a third wave, that new law would apply to 15 out of 16 German states.
Scuffles broke out as police tried to disperse the crowd, which included conspiracy theorists, vaccine skeptics, neo-Nazis and members a movement known as Querdenken, whose adherents oppose mask requirements and what they see as curbs on basic freedoms.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the law is necessary to tackle a new wave of infections, which has been worsened by new variants. As in the United States, powers to control the pandemic in federal Germany had previously rested with state leaders.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Merkel and state premiers have regularly met to try to agree on regulations. But decisions were ultimately made at the state level, resulting in a patchwork of different regional measures.
“In order to improve the situation and to slow down the third wave, to break it and turn it around, the agreements by the federal and state governments don’t go far enough,” Merkel said this month. “Our response to the pandemic must be more stringent and consequential.”
In addition to a nighttime curfew, the law requires schools and nonessential stores be closed in hotspot regions. The law will be voted on by the Bundesrat, a quasi-second chamber, on Thursday.
