Thousands of people took to the streets of Munich on Thursday,10th May (a public holiday here). They were demonstrating against a new law (“PolizeiAufgabenGesetz”,) that the Bavarian government is planning to pass this month.
The German federal system allows the sixteen Länder certain areas of relative autonomy, the organization of the police being one. Thus the Bavarian government can bestow different powers on the Bavarian police than, for instance, the police of Hessia has.
The new law would allow the Bavarian police to engage in the kind of surveillance that so far is limited to intelligence agencies. (1) Although this new law might seem to be only of local, or regional, interest, it is in fact significant for all Länder. Once the law is passed here, other Länder are likely to follow and it could then become federal law.
About 7000 demonstrators were expected to come to Munich, but more than 30 000 actually turned up at the rally in the center. Nearly all opposition parties had called on their supporters to take part in the demonstration. Trade unions, press associations (2) and even football fan clubs called on their members to demonstrate against the law.
Bavaria has the largest police force of all the Länder and demonstrations tend to be rather heavily policed. Thursday was markedly different. That may have been partly due to the fact that far fewer people were expected to come. My personal impression was, however, that this time the police didn’t feel entirely comfortable in their role and tended to remain in the background or tried to blend in (wearing less martial uniforms, no weapons). The demonstration remained peaceful.
Whether this unexpectedly strong reaction to the planned law will make any difference remains to be seen. The immediate reaction by the governing CSU party was not encouraging. Apparently the demonstrators are “victims of misinformation” and the government will do everything they can to help us see the light. The law is supposed to be passed on Tuesday (15th May). (The law won’t come into effect then.)
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Despite further protests the CSU government passed the law on Tuesday. Even the vice-president of the police union had voiced criticism of the law. He said it would do nothing to stabilize the trust between citizens and the police, but rather sow distrust.
A group of law students from the LMU (Munich University) have already taken legal action, various other groups are planning to do so. The "Polizeiaufgabengesetz" will come into effect on 25th May this year.
- The new law would enable the police to keep persons under surveillance (phone tapping, online searches with access to private computers, use of spy software, etc.) without any indication that a criminal offence has been committed.
- The new law would affect journalists and lawyers in particular, because they would no longer be able to guarantee protection of their sources.