Many cities in Hesse recorded the highest numbers of demos in the Corona year 2020 - including Kassel.
This became an enormous burden not only for the police.
In the Corona * year 2020, the number of
demos increased
.
These included not only demos against
corona measures
, but also for climate protection, club maintenance and against the expansion of the motorway.
Record numbers were recorded
in some cities in
Hessen
- including
Kassel
.
Kassel - Due to the
corona virus
, the world is still in a state of emergency.
The increasing restrictions to contain the
corona pandemic
led to numerous dissenting voices and critics.
In many large cities, nationwide
demos
against current measures developed.
However, due to the unclear infection process, the public protest came
to a standstill
in the past year
2020
.
However, the balance sheet looks very different: Some large cities in
Hesse
registered a record of
demos
.
People not only took
to the streets
against
Corona measures
.
The lack of climate protection, the clearing of the Dannenröder Forest * and the expansion of the motorway * also provoked numerous protests.
But the racism debate was also
in focus in
2020
.
Hundreds of demonstrators showed solidarity with the in Kassel
Victims of racism and police violence *.
A lateral thinking meeting in Hanover caused a stir.
There “
Jana from Kassel
”
compared herself
with the resistance fighter Sophie Scholl.
In Kassel, some participants showed solidarity with the young woman at a demo *.
+
A record number of demos were reported in many large cities in Hesse.
Also in Kassel.
(Symbol image)
© Swen Pförtner / dpa
Despite the corona pandemic: the number of demos in Hesse is increasing
Due to the increasing number of
corona cases
,
demos
in
Hesse were
temporarily fewer.
As the German Press Agency (dpa) reported, this was due, among other things, to the organizers' fear of canceling the events.
On the other hand, authorities tried to stop demonstrations in order to keep the number of infected people low.
That met with criticism.
The legal scholar Professor Georg Hermes from the Goethe University Frankfurt speaks of a “democratic scandal” in this context.
Corona year 2020: Numerous demos in Hessen - record also in Kassel
But the situation in
Hessen
changed due to a decisive judgment
.
The Federal Constitutional Court approved an urgent application from Giessen.
As a result, authorities would have freedom of choice to protect freedom of assembly, according to the dpa.
With this decision, the number of
demos increased
again - also in
Kassel
.
Until now, 2019 was still considered a
record demo year
.
That changed quickly, however.
As a survey by the dpa showed, the figures from previous years were exceeded at the beginning of December 2020.
Demo despite Corona: In addition to Kassel - other cities in Hesse report high levels
In the
Corona year 2020
,
284 protests were registered
in
Kassel by the
beginning of December
.
"The number of registered demonstrations has reached a new high year-on-year," said a spokesman for the documenta city.
In the previous year there were 212
demos
.
Record numbers were also reported
in other cities in
Hessen
(as of early December 2020):
Giessen - 228 demonstrations (previous year: 209)
Fulda - 137 demonstrations (previous year: 68)
Darmstadt - 269 demonstrations (previous year: 186)
Wiesbaden - 220 demonstrations (previous year: 158)
Corona year 2020: Numerous demos in Hessen - Frankfurt recorded fewer protests
A
similar trend is emerging in
Marburg
.
In all likelihood there will be more
demonstrations
in 2020
than in 2019, according to a spokeswoman for the university city.
91 demos were held in Marburg by the beginning of December.
At this point, six more meetings were already registered.
This would have reached the number of 97 demos from the previous year.
In
Frankfurt,
however, it looked a little different.
The number of protests in the
Corona year remained
below the previous year's
figure
of 1754
demos
.
According to the regulatory office, 1462 demos were registered and 1201 were carried out.
Most of the gatherings dealt with minorities, animal and human rights.
According to the city of Frankfurt,
demonstrations on the
corona pandemic
are in fourth place.
Corona year 2020: Professor from Kassel comments on record high in Hesse
Wolfgang Schroeder, political scientist at the
University of Kassel
, sees this development positively.
"There are always dissatisfied interests and if these are articulated in good time and within the framework of our rules of the game, that is an expression of a vital democracy," says the professor.
Especially in times of the
corona pandemic
,
demos are
an important part of democracy.
"We have great uncertainty, have interests that are not pacified as it would be desirable, for that we need the public possibility of articulation." According to Schroeder, the
corona demos are
a new phenomenon.
This would put
democracy and science
under enormous pressure.
Tell us what you think!
Corona year also burden for the police in Hesse
According to the
University of Kassel
professor, there is a previously invisible polarization: some trust in advances in science.
On the other hand, some turned away and fled into their own thinking and language game, "which is based on identifying science as a problem and not as a solution to the problem."
But the many
demonstrations
in the
Corona year
were not only
an additional burden
for democracy and science
.
The
police
were also put to the test.
Normally, the accumulated overtime of civil servants in
Hessen
is around three million hours depending on the year (plus or minus 300,000 hours).
This was reported by Andreas Grün, state chairman of the
police
union
.
It is to be expected that the overtime mountain will now be even higher.
However, due to the current
corona situation
, reducing overtime is as good as impossible.
Instead, the additional
burden could
probably only alleviate a payout.
“The numbers can only be kept within limits with money,” says Grün.
But this is no substitute for the urgently needed compensation for the emergency services.
(Karolin Schaefer with dpa)
* hna.de is part of the nationwide Ippen digital editorial network.
List of rubric lists: © Swen Pförtner / dpa