Last weekend, opponents of the Corona measures again planned a demonstration in Hamburg. 15,000 people were expected, a number that is by no means unrealistic given the previous demonstrations in recent weeks. Across the country, several hundred thousands are currently taking part in demonstrations against the Corona measures, compulsory vaccination and the state of emergency. However, for the first time in a long time, the Hamburg police threw a spanner in the works and banned the demonstration, which was planned for 15 January. Even when the organisers filed an emergency appeal in court, the ban did not change.

The whole thing was justified with the Infection Protection Act, a rubber paragraph that has been used since the beginning of the state of emergency as a justification for undermining all democratic rights. Allegedly in the service of fighting the pandemic. The fundamental rights and democratic freedoms on which the German state otherwise swore so highly and sacredly have been worth nothing since the beginning of the crisis in the early 2020s and are being trampled on again and again by its own advocates.

The absurd thing is that some of those who have otherwise so vigorously defended bourgeois democracy are now in favour of undermining democratic rights such as the right of assembly and are celebrating the German state for such bans on demonstrations. For example, the Hamburg Alliance Against the Right, which includes the Greens - who are, mind you, the governing party in Hamburg - and the Left Party, as well as numerous democratic organisations and anti-fascist groups, demonstrated against the demo planned for 15 January and celebrated it as a success that it was banned. But it cannot be considered a success when the German state declares its state of emergency and restricts democratic rights. No serious revolutionary, no serious anti-fascist, not even a sincere supporter of bourgeois democracy can be in favour of this. At the present moment, which has been marked by the state of emergency for two years now, it is an important struggle to defend democratic rights.