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Demonstration in Stuttgart: "What still has to happen?"
Photo: Thomas Niedermueller / Getty Images
Democracies are regarded as systems capable of learning, so one could have learned a lot in the past few months: that rallies by the "lateral thinkers" movement observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are not always peaceful.
That extremists are there and that hardly anyone adheres to the corona protection rules.
That the police often seem powerless against thousands upon thousands of people.
In Stuttgart, the "lateral thinkers" were still allowed to demonstrate.
About 15,000 people spread out in the state capital of Baden-Württemberg on Saturday, the police let them go - although hardly anyone wore a mask, although there were individual attacks on journalists, although officials secured dangerous quartz gloves, pyrotechnics and balaclavas for some participants .
Now there is a debate about how this could happen, and so far only one thing is clear: Nobody wants to be responsible, but pretty much everyone is outraged.
Nobody wants it to be
Baden-Württemberg Health Minister Manne Lucha, for example, promised to do everything possible to ensure that such demonstrations with thousands of people without masks and distance do not repeat themselves.
“What happened yesterday is a slap in the face for anyone who obeys the pandemic rules.
It is a threat to society as a whole and is suitable for promoting the third corona wave, "said the Greens politician.
The demonstrators were not interested in freedom rights, but in disrupting the basic democratic order.
There will be talks with the city in the coming week.
"We will analyze the situation," announced Lucha.
This analysis should also be about which authority could have prevented this "slap in the face".
Because there is no lack of regulations in the pandemic, but apparently there is sometimes clarity about their interpretation.
Minister Lucha, for example, assumes that the country's currently valid Corona regulation prohibits such mass gatherings.
Apparently one sees it differently in the Stuttgart city administration.
City spokesman Sven Matis said that the country's current corona ordinance was adhered to, which does not restrict the basic right to meetings because of the pandemic.
Ordinary Mayor Maier meanwhile brought a change to the regulation into play: One would consult with the state government to what extent the Corona regulation in terms of assemblies would be adjusted, Maier said on Saturday.
"Anyone who does not adhere to it behaves antisocially and is liable to prosecution."
Ralf Kusterer, German Police Union
Lucha rejected this by return of post.
An adaptation of the regulation is not necessary.
Mayor Maier, that is how it should be understood, could have forbidden the demo - and should have known it: "I do not understand that the city maneuvered itself into this situation with full eyesight," said Ministerial Director Uwe Lahl.
Both in writing and in a personal phone call, he showed Maier the possibilities that the country's corona ordinance also offers for a ban on large-scale demonstrations.
How can one explain to the population that only five people from two households are allowed to meet on the Easter holidays, while thousands of demonstrators marched through the city without a mask and without a minimum distance, said Lahl.
"The right to demonstrate is a valuable asset, but in a pandemic there are limits to it too."
The criticism of the German police union sounds similar.
Its state chairman makes no secret of his frustration: »Nobody understands that - not even we.
While in other parts of the country the assembly authorities and the police react and act harshly and consistently, it seems that anything is possible in Stuttgart, ”said Ralf Kusterer.
If the number of infections increases as a result of recent events, it will harm the entire population.
According to Kusterer, a ban on the "lateral thinker" demonstration would also have been compatible with the Basic Law - this gives all Germans the right to assemble "peacefully and without weapons".
"Peaceful and without weapons means at a distance and with a mask in pandemic times," said Kusterer.
"Anyone who does not adhere to it behaves antisocially and is liable to prosecution."
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Mask refuser in Stuttgart: "Not the right to endanger the health of others"
Photo: Thomas Niedermueller / Getty Images
The responsibility for a ban lies with the city - he therefore cannot understand that the police are now being criticized for their passive tactics: »Obviously there seems to be a misunderstanding when the Stuttgart city administration and thus the assembly authority make clear decisions and then dump the crap at the police's feet. "
According to Kusterer, the police must be able to intervene consistently if the assembly authority is messing up like in Stuttgart.
"Here I expect preparatory work and specifications from the Ministry of the Interior, clear legal regulations from the state government and clear political support."
It should not matter "whether it is about lateral thinkers, right-wing, left-wing, environmentalists or the German trade union federation." Anyone who demands the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in such times does not have the right to health and endanger the lives of others.
The course of the "Querdenker" demo in Stuttgart had sparked clear criticism, for example from Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
The German Association of Journalists (DJV) was also outraged about insults and physical attacks on journalists - and criticized the "obvious inaction of the police officers who do nothing to protect our colleagues."
DJV chairman Frank Überall called on the Baden-Württemberg state government to work out a "convincing protection concept" for future demonstrations.
"What still has to happen before the security forces realize that journalists in Germany can no longer report freely?"
There is still no clear answer to this - nor to the question of why the city of Stuttgart did not prohibit the demo.
Mayor of Ordinance Clemens Maier defended his approach again on Sunday: "I think we made the best of it," he said.
"If the police had broken up the meeting at the behest of the assembly authorities, they would have had to try to send 15,000 people home," said Maier.
But these would not have gone voluntarily.
The police should have used massive amounts of force.
All of this was played out in discussions with the police.
"We can't cordon off the city."
Maier now advocated debating not only about the course of the mission, but also about the social upheavals: "Why does politics not reach parts of society?" He said.
"That is the actual problem."
Perhaps, at least on this point, everyone involved agrees.
mxw / dpa