"Walks" in the Weilheim-Schongau district: District office does not want to restrict corona protests

Created: 01/13/2022, 5:06 pm

From: Christoph Peters

In Penzberg, according to the police, up to 1,000 people have recently come together for “walks”.

© WOS

The Weilheim-Schongau district office currently sees no need for action to restrict the so-called “walks”, which are currently also taking place in the district's municipalities, by means of a general decree.

The authority announced on Thursday afternoon.

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- According to the district office, the current situation around the so-called walks was the topic of the first corona situation briefing of the year on Thursday, with the district administrator Andrea Jochner-Weiß, several representatives from the Office for Public Safety and Order and two heads of police inspections in the district participated. The group came to the conclusion that the security situation in the special situation in the district of Weilheim-Schongau did not require such a step or that intervention could prove counterproductive under certain circumstances.

The so-called “walks” are nationwide open-air protest events that are primarily directed against the Corona measures.

These events fall under the right of assembly and demonstration.

It is required by law to notify this at least 48 hours before the announcement or application, the authority points out.

In the past few weeks, there have also been isolated demonstrations in the Weilheim-Schongau district without prior notification.

The district office recently pointed out in a press release that violations of the notification requirement could be fined up to three thousand euros.

No restriction from "pure actionism"

"It makes no sense to restrict something out of pure actionism, as long as the citizens remain calm and public safety is not endangered," said District Administrator Andrea Jochner-Weiß. “You can have different opinions about the things that concern us at the moment. However, it is a basic democratic right when citizens gather for this purpose - even if we may not share this opinion or we do not like it. "

Helmut Stork, Head of the Office for Public Security and Order, also pointed out that a general decree would be a serious interference with basic democratic rights, which can only be used if public security is actually threatened: “We have ours here in the municipalities District a completely different situation than in Munich, Nuremberg or Augsburg. ”If an event is not indicated, this constitutes an administrative offense, according to Stork, but is not a valid reason to prohibit it.

Police report peaceful gatherings

According to the district office, executives of the police in the district unanimously reported during the conversation that the gatherings had so far been peaceful and that the majority of the participants came from the middle-class camp. The largest would take place in Penzberg with up to a thousand participants, but there would also be smaller “walks” in Weilheim, Schongau, Polling, Rottenbuch, Böbing or Peiting. "We see no need for action here so far, the people are behaving peacefully," said Harald Bauer, head of the Weilheim police station. "Intervention could lead to escalation." Toni Müller, deputy head of the Schongau police station, confirmed this and reported on the previous demonstration on Monday in Schongau with 350 participants: "The people tried very hard to meet the security requirements."

In the run-up to this meeting, representatives of the district administration in the districts of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen and Garmisch-Partenkirchen had found out about their experiences and intentions.

No general decree was issued in these districts either.

"As long as the situation remains peaceful and there is no danger to anyone - for example through violence or a corona infection - we also see no reason to intervene," said Stork.