The Monday demos in Penzberg will continue as usual – at least for the time being. The Weilheim-Schongau district office did not comply with the city’s request to reassess the meeting and tighten the conditions. Specifically, it is about a mask requirement for the participants in the protest march through the city center. Because in view of the high number of critics of the corona measures that come together on the town square, the applicable hygiene rules and distances are hardly observed anymore, says Mayor Stefan Korpan (CSU).
Most recently, according to police estimates, 1,500 people protested against the Corona policy in Penzberg. In the town hall one sees that a limit of tolerability has been reached. “We regularly observe that the participants are standing too close together. This is problematic without masks,” emphasizes Korpan. Indeed, demonstrators are not required to wear masks. Nevertheless, hygiene distances apply, which are not observed by most of them either on the town square or when marching through the city center. “We have shared our impressions and concerns with the county authority,” says Korpan. Even if the Monday demo, which is registered as a “moving assembly”, takes place outdoors, participants could infect each other. “It’s a coming and going during the march. It’s hard to control.” Which is why the city would like it if the district office made a mask requirement a requirement. This is the only way the law enforcement officers would have a handle in the event of violations. “Then the meeting could even be dissolved,” says Korpan.
In Weilheim, however, there is no reason to tighten the conditions for the time being – if only to avoid escalation. The office assumes that the Penzberg town square, including side streets, can accommodate 2,000 people. So the meeting this Monday, which in turn was requested by a Penzberger, will take place as usual. After all, the district office has promised to keep a “strict eye” on the protest march, reports Korpan, and to make new decisions from meeting to meeting. “The city cannot do more,” says the mayor of Penzberg.