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Please go further: In Düsseldorf you are no longer allowed to simply stop where you want due to the corona pandemic
Photo: Peter Schickert / picture alliance / Peter Schickert
The sun is high above Düsseldorf's old town.
Several hundred people in face masks stroll along the banks of the Rhine, seagulls sail in the blue sky, and cargo ships paddle up and down the river almost silently.
Some passers-by sit on benches or lean against the parapet and let their gaze wander over the sparkling water.
It's a peaceful Saturday afternoon, a day of idleness, of pausing.
The problem: pausing is not allowed.
"The regulatory authority and the police monitor compliance with the requirements"
Loudspeaker announcements boom from a van of the public order office.
There is a "no stay," says the stern male voice.
"The regulatory authority and the police monitor compliance with the requirements." Infringements would be prosecuted as an administrative offense.
In other words: if you sit down to eat your ice cream, if you just stop to enjoy the view of the skyline, you risk a ticket of 50 euros.
Numerous police officers and employees of the public order office patrol through the prohibited zone.
"Let's stop here for a moment," asks an old man in a wheelchair.
"We're not allowed to do that today," replies his companion, pushing him along the promenade.
The city of Düsseldorf has put up 300 signs in the old town and on the banks of the Rhine.
"No stay zone," it says in white letters on an alarm-red background.
And: "Please go on!" The only thing missing is the addition.
"There's nothing to see here."
The ban, which will remain in force until March 14, is the reaction of the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia to the past weekend, when thousands of people sometimes crowded together for a walk on the banks of the Rhine.
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Not wanted in Düsseldorf: crowds in times of pandemic
Photo: Federico Gambarini / dpa
The measures are important to "help people to better comply with the required corona protection rules," said CDU Mayor Stephan Keller.
A citizen tried to avert the injunction at short notice by filing a lawsuit.
On Friday afternoon, the administrative court dismissed the application by urgent decision.
The reason: The health of the population is more important than the private interests of the applicant.
Hunting scenes in Hamburg
While the authorities took action against those who remained in Düsseldorf at the weekend, other cities also swarmed officials to check compliance with the tightened mask requirement outdoors.
In Hamburg, for example, a police helicopter rose on Saturday to observe any accumulations over the Alsterpark.
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On Friday there was a wild chase in the Hanseatic city.
A young man had hugged his friends in front of a police patrol.
When the officers tried to check him, he fled.
The policemen raced after them in their car and - as the cell phone video of a passerby shows - almost ran over him.
The ban has had an effect in Düsseldorf.
There are fewer people on the road than a week earlier.
But understanding of the measures seems to be falling dramatically.
There is also mockery on the Internet.
The hashtag »no lingering« was still trending on Sunday.
"Even with those who are willing to go with most of the steps, a limit is exceeded," says a young mother who has sat down on a bench with her child on her lap.
"Today we leave it with admonitions"
She doesn't sit there for very long.
A two-person team from the public order office politely asks the woman to move on.
"Today we leave it with admonitions," says the woman from the regulatory office.
Only those who are stubborn have to pay.
The mother gets up and says: "Then we'd better stop lingering." The five-year-old asks: "Are we getting into trouble now?"
On the bank next door, a family of four has opened their fast food bag.
She is also admonished.
Eating without a mask is okay, but only while walking, say the inspectors.
The family gets up, waits for the emergency services to move on, and then sits down again.
Something like this can often be seen on this Saturday.
A city spokesman said on Sunday that fines were imposed on some unruly people.
"Politicians have to be careful not to destroy social peace"
No matter who you talk to on that day, the keynote is almost always the same: no lingering, that's going too far.
"Politicians have to be careful not to destroy social peace," says Thomas, 43. He traveled from Wuppertal to Düsseldorf.
He knew nothing about the no-stay permit.
“People take buses and trains, go shopping, primary school children are taught in closed rooms, but people who just want to get some fresh air are hunted.
Who should understand that? "
He points over to the meadows on the other side of the Rhine.
“That's where I'm going now.
Nobody controls there. "
Detlef Kaatz stands in a side street in the tap room of the Uerige brewery, which sells Altbier in bottles for drinking while walking.
The restaurant manager is angry.
"The prohibition to stay is absolutely hollow," he rumbles.
The rush a week ago was announced.
One could have absorbed that with a one-way solution for pedestrians.
"The city has countered its lack of concept with emergency measures." In economic terms, this is a disaster for all restaurateurs.
But there are also those who are behind the measures.
"Many people are simply unteachable," said a 61-year-old woman who is out with her husband.
"Politicians are forced to enforce exactly such rules." Then the two stop for a moment.
The woman looks furtively to the left and right.
No law enforcement officers.
She quickly poses her husband in front of the backdrop of the Rhine, pulls out her cell phone and takes a photo.
"Queues are exempt from the prohibition to stay"
The loudspeaker announcement echoes again from the emergency vehicles: The measures must be observed to protect against infection with the "so-called coronavirus".
A formulation that almost sounds as if you yourself doubt its existence.
In any case, the lateral thinkers should like that.
Two dozen of them have gathered for a demonstration on the edge of the prohibited zone on Johannes-Rau-Platz.
They wear masks that read "Merkel must go" and posters with idiosyncratic slogans.
Although not even started, the demo is about to be canceled.
The organizers cannot have enough stewards who want to wear a mask.
Fadime Spyra wants to open her bar for street sales right next door.
But first she runs to a group of law enforcement officers.
Is it allowed to open at all, after all, queues could form?
An officer can reassure them: "Queues are exempt from the prohibition to stay."
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