On March 11 and 18, demonstrations were held in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt against the draft for a new assembly law in Hesse. Hundreds of people participated in both demonstrations. Progressive forces from the Rhine-Main area mobilized for both demonstrations.
After new assembly laws were passed in several German states in recent years, Hesse is now also to get a new assembly "freedom" law.
The proposal for this was introduced last November by Hesse's Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU). According to him, this is intended to promote a peaceful culture of demonstrations. Freedom of assembly is indispensable for democratic decision-making he said, at the same time, however, it was also necessary to "point out limits to radicals and perpetrators of violence in this context".
As with the assembly laws passed in other states, this law aims to give the state more repressive tools to deal with any protests it finds unpleasant.
Among other things, the planned law will make it easier to obtain information about those who register demonstrations and gatherings, and it will impose stricter requirements on organizers. Furthermore, it is to include a "ban on militancy", which is aimed against a uniform appearance and uniforming at demonstrations and de facto entails a ban on demo blocks. The ban on uniforms could be applied in principle to different forms of clothing. Be that the "black block" on militant anti-fascist demonstrations, the painter suits of the climate movement, uniform clothing of football fans or of trade union members. The monitoring of demonstrations and participants is also to be expanded with the help of drones and checkpoints.
It is no wonder, the GdP (so called "union" of the police) also described the draft law as a "well-rounded piece of work," which should be enough for anyone with half a democratic mind to be able to classify the character of the draft law. In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau, Michèle Winkler of the Fundamental Rights Committee described the law as "very much written with a police eye" and went on to say "In this way, the democratic essence of a demonstration is truncated in favor of danger prevention."
As in other states, this move by the black-green state government is another step to respond "appropriately" to the coming struggles of the masses in this country. With the increasing sharpening of contradictions not only internationally but also domestically, the interest of the German bourgeoisie in supressing progressive protests from the get-go. When the carrots run out, the stick must be used.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
