Elmau: G7 castle becomes a restricted area - SPD sues against police duties law

Created: 3/31/2022Updated: 3/31/2022 8:14 p.m

By: Dirk Walter

Well guarded: In 2015 a fence was put up around the Schlosshotel Elmau, venue of the G7 summit, as can be seen here.

This is to be expected this time as part of a security concept.

© Christof Stache/afp

The G7 summit will take place in Elmau (Garmisch-Partenkirchen district) in three months.

As in 2015, a security zone will be set up around the conference site.

Garmisch-Patenkirchen/Munich – Security is a top priority when the heads of state and government of the G7 countries meet at the Schlosshotel Elmau on Sunday, June 26th.

As in 2015, the strictest controls and access restrictions are to be expected.

There are two security zones, as the spokesman for the district office, Wolfgang Rotzsche,

explained to the

A security zone S1 will be drawn up immediately around the hotel, to which only diplomats and heads of government will have access.

Slightly expanded is area S2, which will include the access route to Kranzbach.

A week before the summit, so probably from the weekend of 18./19.

June, the area will be sealed off.

A general decree will regulate the details, says Rotzsche.

"It will probably come after Easter, we only need the final danger forecast from the police."

Accreditations are to be granted on the basis of this prognosis, which, like in 2015, will probably contain statements on the potential danger from left-wing extremists, but also on the potential danger as a result of the Ukraine conflict.

A prerequisite for this, in turn, is a background check.

G7 summit in Elmau: new police duties law is applied

The SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament used the security concept for Elmau for an all-round criticism of the new police task law, which has been in force since August 1 of last year.

Many provisions in the new law are problematic, said SPD legal expert Horst Arnold.

That does not only apply to the Elmau summit, but in principle.

It is unclear at which major events the police can order this check, which group of people is checked and which data can be queried.

Every journalist, every employee of a catering company or even local residents could be affected.

Like other parties, the SPD will take legal action against the Police Responsibilities Act, although the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior has already revised it after initial criticism.

He doesn't want to completely overturn the law, Arnold assured

but only find sensible regulations.

As vague as it is worded, it causes "partial physical pain."

Law professor Mark A. Zöller from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich prepared the lawsuit for the SPD.

He criticized: "One tries again and again to enforce maximum leeway for the police with minimal protection of fundamental rights." Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU), however, considers the security checks at the G7 summit to be "absolutely necessary", as he explained after the SPD press conference.

"Every layman understands that the police must of course check who comes close to the heads of state and government." -