Protesters shouted 'I want my life back' and held up signs with slogans such as 'Protect constitutional rights', and 'Freedom isn't everything but without freedom, everything is nothing'.

German police said on Twitter they had arrested more than 100 people.

Some protesters tried to keep distance from each other, sitting on the ground and wearing masks, but others clustered together.

Germany's strict curbs on public activity to slow the transmission of coronavirus were imposed in its lockdown on March 17.

The clash comes after Angel Merkel warned on Friday that some states had already gone too far in relaxing measures and that 'we can't return to life like it was before coronavirus.'

Her comments came after the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania reopened zoos and fitness studios. Brandenburg, which neighbours Berlin, has permitted gatherings of 20 people and Rhineland-Palatinate allowed shopping malls and zoos to reopen as well as some party gatherings to take place.

Because of the country's decentralised political system, states have been largely to themselves how to ease lockdown measures - with guidance from central government.

As well as reopening non-essential businesses, Germany also began reopening schools this week - with additional social distancing measures.

'We are in for the long haul. We must not lose energy before we reach the end,' Merkel said, adding: 'It would be a terrible shame if our hope punishes us.'

She cautioned 'we're still walking on thin ice, one could also say the thinnest ice'.

'We're not living in the final phase of the pandemic, but still at the beginning. We will be living with this virus for a long time.'

Germany's Constitutional Court ruled earlier this month that people have the right to protests if they follow to social distancing rules, after pro-democracy activists brought a case arguing that lockdown breaches freedom of assembly.

On Saturday, some protesters sat peacefully on the ground at a distance from each other, holding white roses in reference to the White Rose resistance movement against the Nazis.

'We are here today... to stand up for our opinion. For the protection of constitutional rights, freedom, and above all freedom of speech,' said a woman holding a rose who gave her name only as Sandra.

Germany has the fifth-highest coronavirus case total behind the United States, Spain, Italy and France, with close to 156,000 diagnoses. However it has managed to kept fatalities relatively low at just over 5,800 after extensive testing was implemented early.

Encouraged by lower infection figures, the government allowed smaller stores to re-open on Monday, along with car and bicycle dealers and bookstores. Social distancing rules remain in place until May 3.