Every Wednesday, the day of the demonstrations by opponents of the pandemic measures, there is always a long legal back and forth. But now the city of Munich has been confirmed by the Bavarian Administrative Court (VGH) in its handling of protests against corona measures. On Wednesday evening, in the last instance, he declared the general decree to be legal, with which the city recently banned unannounced corona demonstrations on certain days. The most recent general decree of January 13 expired on Wednesday at midnight, but things remained exciting in the hours before.
The Administrative Court (VG) granted an application against the injunction around 4 p.m. in the afternoon. The district administration department (KVR) immediately lodged a complaint against this; around 9 p.m., the VGH overturned the decision of the lower court and reinstated the general decree.
What is remarkable about the ten-page judgment and its justification is that the VGH also dealt with the content of the topic for the first time. The city now has a court-proof basis for future cases.
It would only be about “showing off the city and the state”
The red-green coalition in the town hall welcomed the verdict on Thursday, as did Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU). He found that the supreme administrative court of the Free State had “made it very clear that the assembly authorities do not have to wait patiently until there is a risk of infection and riots if infection protection measures are systematically disregarded”. Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) said: “It confirms that we are proceeding with a sense of proportion.” Reiter also emphasized: “The fundamental right to freedom of assembly is a valuable asset, and therefore it was and will of course remain possible to demonstrate”; at the same time, it is important to “ensure the health protection of everyone in Munich”.
The coalition partner also sees the VGH decision as an important signal in dealing with the wild protests. Dominik Krause, Group Vice President of the Greens, made it clear that the organizers had to register the rallies correctly and that the participants had to comply with the conditions. Most recently, it was found that the protesters were only concerned with “showing off the city and the state”.
District administration officer Thomas Böhle felt the same way: “With sad regularity we have had to observe for a few weeks how various actors are looking for nothing other than conflict with the state. We are reacting accordingly.”
Krause believes that the general decrees, which have now been legally confirmed, have already calmed the situation down. He classifies the protest marches that took place on Wednesday evening after the VG decision as a rebellion in the scene. The police, who were again deployed with around 1,000 officers, estimated the total number of demonstrators at around 2,000.
However, the officials prevented larger gatherings; they referred to the applicable Bavarian Infection Protection Measures Ordinance. When the VGH decision was published, most of the opponents of the measures had already lost their way. There were no reports or arrests this time.
District administration officer Thomas Böhle pointed out: “Anyone who is looking for peaceful protest has every opportunity to do so.” The city always offers the opportunity to protest against the Corona measures on the Theresienwiese, for example; but that is just as regularly rejected by the organizers. “That only allows the conclusion that it’s no longer about content,” says Böhle.
It is fitting that on Wednesday two registered meetings of critics of the Corona regulations met with little interest, as the police announced: At Harras and at Odeonsplatz near the equestrian monument, up to 30 and the other time up to 50 participants were counted.
Both rallies were just as peaceful as a counter-demonstration on Odeonsplatz. In front of the Feldherrnhalle, an alliance had taken a stand against the critics of the measures for the third time. According to the police, 200 people gathered there.
“We’re boosted!” chanted a group of young people
The Corona protest marches also met with a counter-movement in the pedestrian zone on Wednesday. A group of mask-wearing youths chanted: “We’re boosted!” Previously, there had been a verbal argument between a young person and the well-known lateral thinker lawyer Markus H., a traveler in the matter of protest calls. The lawyer alleged an insult and demanded an apology in front of the camera with criminal threats.
However, the youth was not intimidated or provoked and, for his part, asked the lawyer to apologize “for the multitude of deaths caused by your irresponsibility and non-compliance with the measures”. The approximately two-minute dialogue was distributed on media platforms such as Twitter.
Meanwhile, Markus H. announced on his Telegram channel that he would “attack the next general decree again tomorrow or the day after with a new client”. In order for the city to issue a new one, unannounced demonstrations would have to be called for first. Incidentally, the VGH expressly pointed out that it “remains at liberty to take part in reported meetings”.