Why "walks" are tolerated

Created: 01/14/2022 06:09

By: Nikola Obermeier

Demo and counter-demo in Indersdorf a few weeks ago.

© Christian Fischer

In the district of Dachau, the police and district office will continue to tolerate the so-called "walks" - although they are not registered.

According to district administrator Stefan Löwl, the hurdles to enforcing a ban via a general decree are high.

Dachau - For several weeks, the unannounced meetings disguised as walks have also been taking place in Dachau, Indersdorf, Altomünster and recently in Karlsfeld.

While there were riots in Munich, for example, and a ban was then imposed, the "Monday walks" in the district have so far been peaceful, as police chief Thomas Rauscher emphasized.

According to Löwl, the mere fact that the meetings are not registered is not enough to ban them.

"We know who is basically behind the movement of the "Monday Walks", says Löwl: people who are critical of the state, anti-democratic, lateral thinkers, Free Saxons, supporters of the III.

Wegs, a right-wing extremist micro-party.

At the meetings, they do not appear openly right-wing extremists.

Ludwig Gasteiger, managing director of the district youth council and contact person in the district for the federal program "Live democracy", added that during the "walks" "long-standing, deeply rooted right-wing radicals try to fish people". In Dachau, members of right-wing rocker clubs and people from the support environment of the NSU were seen. According to Gasteiger, these people hope for more radicalization if vaccination is introduced. The movement is dangerous because "one is afraid that it will get more traffic". It is "important that civil society shows a clear edge".

Gasteiger would like more support from the police during the demonstrations: "Priority must be given to the assembly that is registered", so that it is not pushed out by an unannounced demonstration. But police chief Rauscher explained that the same protection applies to both assemblies. Participants in a meeting could not insist on a certain place and demand that the others have to go to the outskirts. Of course, the police are happy if a meeting is registered in order to protect the participants from the risk of accidents. In the case of those who are not reported, the police will of course try to find a leader of the meeting.

In Löwl's eyes, this is a political, social, democratic dispute, "not one that can be resolved by general decrees or by formal legal means". The "walkers" provoke by not registering their meetings - "exploiting an open flank of the right of assembly". But this is just an offence. This provocation of the "walkers" creates the expectation on the other side that the state has to intervene - but society has to take this position. Löwl: "Civil society must position itself for respect for democratic rules, against the law." The district administrator calls on the participants in the walks to look at who they stand with and who abuses them. "The majority is on the side of the rule of law," says Löwl.This number proves it: over 110,000 people in the district have been vaccinated, around 500 go for “walks”.

Staying in touch with people: That is also important to Stefan Handl, second mayor of Karlsfeld (CSU).

On Monday he tried to talk to participants in the "walk" in Karlsfeld, but was harshly rejected.

"There is a hardening of the fronts." It is all the more important that there are counter-actions like in Dachau or Indersdorf.

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