For the holiday season, many Berlin bars have set up their own stands offering mulled wine to take away, which has become one of the only ways for them to make a little turnover during the pandemic. For the customers, it's an opportunity to have a drink despite the cancellation of most Christmas markets. But these stands are now targeted by the authorities, who accuse them of encouraging customer gatherings in the streets. "When you set up mulled wine stands, it is not compatible with the rule that you only buy to take home," Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech to the Bundestag after her country's virus death toll reached a daily record of nearly 600 people. In the capital's locality of Prenzlauer Berg, police patrol the streets to avoid gatherings over the traditional Christmas drink.