Kai Wegner wants to restore “public order” in Berlin

The war in the Middle East continues to keep Berlin on edge. Over the weekend, several hundred people marched through Berlin, protesting against Israel's alleged genocide against Palestinians. The march was stopped in Charlottenburg, and arrests were made for insults, displaying banned symbols, shouting banned slogans, and resisting security forces. Observers reported that black-and-white shahada flags were waved and anti-Semitic slogans such as "Death to the Jews" and "Death to the IDF" were chanted. The IDF is the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli army.

Another demonstration was first banned by the Berlin Assembly Authority, the ban was upheld by the Administrative Court, and later overturned by the Higher Administrative Court. The demonstration took place not far from the Egyptian Embassy in Tiergarten, and 1,500 participants attended. Signs read "Save Gaza" as well as demands such as "Justice through the Caliphate in the Middle East." Observers report that a hastily added requirement by the Assembly Authority, stating that there should be no gender segregation at the demonstration, was blatantly disregarded. Women and men demonstrated neatly separated.

Horror demonstration in Berlin-Tiergarten celebrates the caliphate

Berlin's police chief, Barbara Slowik Meisel, reacted unusually emotionally to the court defeat. "In my seven and a half years as police chief, I have never been so pained by a court decision," she said.

Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) also found it "incomprehensible" that the Higher Administrative Court overturned the ban. "A caliphate—and the ideology associated with it—is incompatible with our constitutional state and has no place in Germany," said the CDU politician. In order to be able to ban such demonstrations in the future, Wegner wants to reinstate the somewhat outdated-sounding term "public order" into Berlin's current Freedom of Assembly Act.

The head of government refers to the government policy guidelines agreed upon by the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition. Wegner urged the SPD-led Interior Ministry to examine appropriate changes "to effectively prevent demonstrations of this kind in the future." His favorite is clear: "public order."

Incidentally, this was already the case shortly after his term began in spring 2023. At that time, the Black-Red coalition made a statement : "The Senate will evaluate the Freedom of Assembly Act by mid-2024 and reinstate the term 'public order'."

Berlin's "public order": The law has been overdue for a year

That was a long time ago. Recently, work on the General Regulatory Act (Asog), the so-called Police Act, seemingly consumed all the energy of the Senate's Interior Administration and the coalition's interior policymakers. The amendment turned out to be more than 700 pages long and is now before the state parliament for a vote and adoption. Approval is considered certain.

The CDU and SPD are calling it a milestone for police work, as it opens up more possibilities for video and cell phone surveillance. The opposition either felt this went too far (Greens and Left) or not far enough (AfD). However, the Freedom of Assembly Act, amended by the previous red-green-red Senate, has not yet been addressed. The Asog (Association of German Socialists) took priority.

But now "public order" is coming into focus. The term refers to so-called unwritten rules. These are social and ethical norms that are not legally established but nevertheless significantly influence behavior in society.

"We're talking about it," said CDU interior minister Burkard Dregger in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. For example, he finds it "unbearable" when Russian car convoys take place in Berlin on the anniversary of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, when Islamist activities are observed on the anniversary of the death of Berlin honor killing victim Hatun Sürücü, or when Nazis march on the anniversary of Stauffenberg's failed assassination attempt on Hitler. All of this clearly violates "public order," but, like the Caliphate demonstration this weekend, is difficult to prohibit legally, says Dregger.

Until February 2021, "public order" was part of Berlin's Freedom of Assembly Act, before the Red-Green-Red coalition abolished the term. The current version instead states that an anticipated disturbance of "public peace" allows for bans on assemblies. This applies, for example, if there is incitement to hatred and violence against a "group characterized by racial attribution, religious or ethnic origin." Or if there is a risk that Nazi rule will be "approved, glorified or justified, denied, or trivialized."

Two years after the red-green-red coalition: Now the SPD also wants the old “public order” back

The amendment to the Freedom of Assembly Act during the previous legislative period was not easy, especially for many in the SPD. For the Left and the Greens, however, it was part of a series of legislative changes that they celebrated as a "major social advance."

Times are changing. Now the SPD also seems ready to revive "public order." Interior politician Martin Matz confirmed this in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung. However, it is much more important to work through and consider the more than 70 years of jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court on freedom of expression and assembly. "We're writing 'public order' in there," says Matz. "But even that could have been shattered at the caliphate demonstration before the Higher Administrative Court." Accuracy is more important than strong words.