City of Munich prohibits corona demos: Demonstrators face a severe fine - OB Reiter speaks out

Created: 12/29/2021, 05:40 AM

From: Tanja Kipke

100 unregistered demo participants met on Monday evening in downtown Munich.

© News5

Again there was an unannounced demonstration against the Corona measures in Munich.

Again the police had to intervene.

Now the city was drawing conclusions.

Update from December 28, 7:06 p.m.:

The city of Munich has expressly prohibited unannounced so-called corona walks for this Wednesday and Thursday. The aim is to prevent the proliferation of demonstrations, some of which have violent participants, who do not keep minimum distances or wear mouth and nose covers. The city announced on Tuesday. Participation in non-registered and non-compliant demos against pandemic control is an administrative offense, it said. Participants face a fine of up to 3000 euros.

Demonstrations must be registered with the competent authority.

That was not the case with the so-called supposedly disorganized walks.

However, the authorities do not see any chance meetings in the walks.

With the new general decree, the police can now take better action and punish violations.

Munich's Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) said: "As I have already announced, we as a city will exhaust our possibilities to prevent violent and aggressive riots that abuse freedom of expression or freedom of assembly and disregard rules of distance and mask requirements in the future."

The stationary rally has been moved to the Theresienwiese

Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) had already pointed out to the district administrative authorities in Bavaria on Christmas Eve that cities and municipalities would not have to tolerate if so-called lateral thinkers tried to evade the regulations of the right of assembly with “walks” instead of registered meetings.

The city of Munich emphasized that demonstrations against fighting the pandemic are still possible after registration and in accordance with the requirements then issued, as long as there is no danger to public safety.

A demonstration through the university district with 5000 participants registered for Wednesday is officially prohibited;

the stationary part of the rally will be relocated to Theresienwiese and limited to 2000 participants with a mask requirement and distance requirement.

In the recent past it was not possible to keep a demonstration with a high number of people under control and to implement the requirements.

Police in Munich want to come up with 1000 officers on Wednesday

Update from December 28, 1:07 p.m.:

The police are arming after the violent unannounced corona protests in Munich about a week ago. A police spokesman said on Tuesday that there will be at least 1000 officers in the announced move (see first report) tomorrow, Wednesday (December 29). In addition, you have to pay attention to the social networks. Among other things, there is a call to bring knives with you at meetings in order to be able to defend yourself against emergency services. In other areas, it's about putting children in the front row. This aspect will be taken into account. However, parents must be aware of their responsibility for their children.

This time the police announced a more robust approach. Breaking police chains like last week will not be tolerated. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the use of pepper spray, for example, affects people who have no business in the front row.

First report from December 28th, 11 a.m .:

Munich - On Wednesday (December 22nd) around 5,000 corona skeptics marched through the Munich university district to demonstrate against the applicable corona measures.

And that although the demonstration was previously prohibited by the district administrative council (KVR).

Due to the large number of participants, the meeting had been moved to Theresienwiese.

A march through the Maxvorstadt was then downright forced.

The situation escalated and there were violent clashes with police officers.

On Monday evening (December 27), opponents of the corona measures again “strolled” through the city center.

Corona demo in Munich: tussles during "walk" at the Rindermarkt

Around 150 unregistered participants gathered at Marienplatz around 5.15 p.m., chanted slogans and held grave candles in their hands. Distance and mask regulation were not adhered to. The police referred the pack to the cattle market and limited the gathering to 7.30 p.m. Nevertheless, there was scuffle between the emergency services and the police. According to the police report, “the use of direct force in the form of pushing and pushing was necessary”. The officers announced requirements over a loudspeaker and pointed out that a mask is required.

"A responsible meeting leader did not reveal himself and could not be identified," it continues.

A total of five criminal charges (including for assaulting police officers and violations of the Assembly Act) and one administrative offense report were issued.

120 officers were on duty.

The next protest march with several thousand participants is already planned for Wednesday

The next big protest march is planned for Wednesday (December 29). The alliance “Munich stands up” has registered a demonstration through the Maxvorstadt at the KVR. The

reports

. The unit is currently checking the registration together with the security authorities. "The balance between the right of assembly and possibly conflicting interests of the public, safety concerns or health protection is a decision that has to be carefully made in each individual case," said a spokesman for the

However, it is very likely that the KVR will relocate the march to Theresienwiese again.

The police are already planning to prevent the situation from escalating again.

"We will use a few hundred more officers," said an

police spokesman

.

"Police officers will show their presence and consistently take action against disruptive actions."

Last week, Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter was shocked by the riots during the "walks".

"It cannot and must not be that soon private meetings of more than ten vaccinated or recovered people will be sanctioned, while thousands, presumably unvaccinated people, will deliberately violate applicable rules, thereby endangering others and not having any consequences," he quoted him as saying

just before Christmas.

At an unannounced corona demo in Schweinfurt on December 26th, riots also broke out.

The police had to use pepper spray and batons against the aggressive participants.

One child was injured.