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Lonely on Potsdamer Platz: At night, exit restrictions apply in Berlin - as in the rest of the country
Photo: stefan zeitz / imago images / Stefan Zeitz
Since this weekend, uniform nationwide rules for combating the corona pandemic have been in effect.
At least when the seven-day incidence per 100,000 inhabitants in a district exceeds the 100 limit.
Then the exit restrictions apply, according to which people are no longer allowed to leave the house between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in the morning.
From an incidence of 150, customers are only allowed to pick up goods that have been ordered in stores beyond their daily needs.
Schools will be closed if the incidence exceeds 165.
A representative survey by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of SPIEGEL shows that the majority of Germans agree with the nationwide Corona emergency brake.
Accordingly, a good two thirds of Germans rate the political decision as positive.
Almost 30 percent, however, think nothing of it.
Last week the Bundestag argued violently about the new requirements.
The opposition criticized the measures either as too lax (school closings only from an incidence of 165) or too harsh (exit restrictions).
The FDP announced a constitutional complaint in Karlsruhe because of the nightly curfews.
There was also criticism from the Prime Ministers of the federal states, but the changes to the Infection Protection Act went through in the Federal Council.
The approval of the population is somewhat lower when specifically asked about night-time exit restrictions.
The proportion of those who explicitly approve of this measure is 56 percent.
38 percent of those surveyed are against curfews.
The exit restrictions for the final version of the Infection Protection Act had been relaxed a little in the run-up to the vote: They do not apply, as initially planned, from 9 p.m., but from 10 p.m.
Sports and walks are still possible until midnight - provided they are done alone.
This sentiment is also reflected in the assessment of the constitutional complaint, which was mainly driven by the FDP.
At 53 percent, the majority consider the liberals' complaint to be wrong.
After all, almost 39 percent think it is right to go to the highest court in Karlsruhe.
In the present case, it is not the FDP parliamentary group that is suing the law, but individual MPs.
Among them are FDP leader Christian Lindner, Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki, parliamentary group vice Michael Theurer and parliamentary group manager Marco Buschmann.
According to a court spokesman, the lawsuit was filed on Monday afternoon.
In total, more than 65 proceedings against the nationwide Infection Protection Act are pending, the court said.
In addition to the FDP, the SPD member of the Bundestag Florian Post, the Berlin Green member Canan Bayram and an AfD member who is not known by name are also suing.
There are also requests from private individuals, as a court spokesman said.
Numerous urgent motions were also received with the constitutional complaints.
Their aim is for the law to be repealed until the final decision has been made.
The Federal Constitutional Court would have to issue an interim order.
However, the hurdles for this are high: According to the established case law of the Federal Constitutional Court, interim orders require severe irreversible disadvantages.
These must be more serious than a provisional application of the law if this later turns out to be unconstitutional.
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