Berlin, May 17 (IANS): Several thousand people gathered in numerous German cities to protest against restrictive measures to fight COVID-19, prompting counter-demonstrators who voiced their disapproval of conspiracy theories.

In Berlin, accompanied by police officers, people gathered in various locations to protest against hygiene regulations adopted to fight the COVID-19 on Saturday, reports Xinhua news agency.

At a demonstration in Munich against the COVID-19 policy, the approved number of 1,000 participants for demonstrations was reached shortly before the start of the event.

The city had allowed a maximum of 1,000 people, under the condition of observing the minimum distance of 1.5 meters and a time limit of two hours, according to the German Press Agency (DPA).

Also in Stuttgart, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, people have demonstrated in several places against what they considered to be excessive measures.

In several cities such as Frankfurt and Hamburg, however, hundreds of counter-demonstrators had also gathered, protesting against conspiracy theories.

Counter-demonstrators in Hamburg carried banners such as "conspiracy theories endanger your health" and "stop right-wing agitation", according to DPA.

Germany has so far reported 175,752 COVID-19 cases, with 7,938 deaths.