The city of Stuttgart has banned two demonstrations for this Saturday. What is the background?
Mayor Dr. Maier: For the past four weeks, the lateral thinking scene has been calling massively in the social networks for demonstrations in downtown Stuttgart. The Assembly Act clearly states that demonstrations must be registered with the city as the assembly authority and must be conducted by an assembly leader. This has deliberately not been done. Our right of assembly is thus deliberately circumvented. This is a provocation that we cannot tolerate.
What does the city fear?
Mayor Dr. Maier: Apart from the disregard of the right of assembly, the experiences with the demonstrations in the last four weeks have shown that the Corona rules also play no role with the cross-thinkers: No spacing is observed, nor are masks worn. Thus, the demonstrators deliberately violate the current Corona regulation. In addition, the demonstration route is deliberately led through busy areas in the city center, such as Königstraße or across Schlossplatz. This also means a direct threat to the people who are in large numbers in the city center on Saturday. In addition, for the first time there was a call for a nightly torchlight march to start directly in front of the state parliament in the center of the ban mile. This raises fears of further escalation. We cannot tolerate this - especially since the torches pose an uncontrollable fire hazard. We must set a sign of a defensible democracy here.
What exactly will you do to ensure public safety?
Mayor Dr. Maier: We are issuing a general order banning the two demonstrations by the lateral thinkers in the middle of downtown Stuttgart. Our Office for Public Order and the Stuttgart police have the task of enforcing this and thus protect the applicable rules of the right of assembly and the Corona Ordinance. The issued ban means that the two demonstrations of the cross-thinkers are prevented. I emphasize very clearly that we will of course uphold the right of assembly, which is protected via the Basic Law. However, we cannot accept deliberate violations of the right of assembly and the Corona Ordinance. This is also about protecting the health of Stuttgart residents and our visitors from the surrounding area.