GERMAN Foreign Minister Heiko Maas accused protesters against coronavirus restrictions of “mocking the bravery that was needed to take a stand against the Nazis” following incendiary comparisons at anti-lockdown protests.

Right-wing demonstrators at some protests have worn stars of David — a symbol the Nazis forced Jews to wear under the third reich — in order to signal they are being “persecuted.” 

A speaker at a protest in Hannover on Saturday sparked outrage when she compared herself to resistance organiser Sophie Scholl, who was put to death in 1943 for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets.

“I feel like Sophie Scholl, since I’ve been active in the resistance, giving speeches, going to protests, distributing flyers,” she claimed before being challenged by a security guard, who accused her of “a trivialisation of the Holocaust.” A video of the incident has gone viral.

Mr Mass tweeted: “Nothing connects the corona protests with the resistance fighters. Nothing!”

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been accused of inviting guests into the Bundestag who disrupted a vote on Covid measures by “harassing and molesting” parliamentarians. 

Chair of the Conference of Interior Ministers (of the federal states) Georg Maier of Thuringia said that it was “becoming more and more obvious that the AfD functions as the parliamentary arm of right-wing extremists and tries to undermine parliamentary democracy.” He said that proceedings to ban the party “can no longer be ruled out.”

Germany last week passed the Infection Protection Act by 415 to 236 votes, formalising state powers to restrict gatherings and travel. Opposition came from the far right but also from the left, with Die Linke parliamentary chief Jan Korte expressing concern over “massive encroachments on basic rights and freedoms.”