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17 May 2021

The Right of Catalonian Leaders to Protest

On 22 April, the Spanish Constitutional Court issued its first judgement on the constitutionality of the conviction of the Catalonian leaders for the events of October 2017. It upheld the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the crime of sedition which blurs the line between legitimate protest and sedition. The judgment will therefore have repercussions beyond this particular case and may affect the right of protest and dissent. Continue reading >>
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14 October 2020

An Emergency within an Emergency within an Emergency

On September 17, 2020, I published a blogpost on Verfassungsblog, warning that while COVID-19 has not, at the time, been used in Israel as a justification for banning protests, there was reason for concern. The concern materialized on September 30, 2020. The Knesset amended the Coronavirus Law to allow the government to declare a “special coronavirus emergency situation” which raises an array of questions. Continue reading >>
17 September 2020

Lock-Down to Avoid Lock-Up?

Whether and to what extent public demonstrations can legitimately be limited in times of a pandemic is a challenge many countries are facing these days. In Israel, however, the COVID-19 crisis is intertwined with an ongoing political crisis. Citizens take to the street against a government which uses the pandemic as an argument to restrict those very protests. With a second lock-down imminent, is freedom of assembly in danger in Israel? Continue reading >>
04 September 2020

At the Margin of Society

On the marginalized, the marginalizers and a false symmetry. Continue reading >>
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25 May 2019

Talking about the Weather

On young protesters, old constitutions and other matters of epochal significance. Continue reading >>
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05 March 2018

Climate Change and Freedom of Assembly: Some Human Rights Questions for COP24

A little over a month ago, the Polish parliament passed a law on organizational issues related to the Conference of Parties (COP24) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will meet next in December in Katowice, Poland. While the law has not received much international media attention, it has caused quite a stir amongst environmental non-governmental organizations and human rights activists. It prohibits participation in any spontaneous assembly in Katowice during the entire COP24 meeting; and authorizes the Polish government to collect participants’ personal data for reasons of public safety. Continue reading >>
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07 November 2017

Abschreckung im Vorfeld – Zur show of force des Staates bei Versammlungen

Die Mühlen des Rechts mahlen langsam, aber gerecht. Zu dieser Abwandlung eines berühmten Sprichworts mag derjenige greifen, wer das jüngste Urteil des Bundesverwaltungsgerichts zum Versammlungsrecht liest. Am  25.10.2017 entschied das Bundesverwaltungsgericht über den Tornado-Einsatz vom G8-Gipfel in Heiligendamm – über zehn Jahre, nachdem die damaligen Bundessprecher*innen der GRÜNEN JUGEND Jan Philipp Albrecht und Paula Riester gegen den Einsatz geklagt hatten. Gerade weil sich die staatliche Praxis im Umgang mit Versammlungen in jüngster Zeit immer stärker militarisiert und zugleich präventiv ausgerichtet hat, kommt dem leider in der Öffentlichkeit nicht hinreichend rezipierten Urteil eine grundsätzliche Bedeutung zu. Continue reading >>
27 September 2017

The Catalunya Conundrum, Part 3: Protecting the Constitution by Violating the Constitution

Lacking legitimacy in Catalonia because of the absence of solutions to Catalan democratic claims within the Spanish legal framework, the position of Spanish institutions is badly weakened. Therefore, they do not to want to take the risk of creating even more political unrest in Catalonia with public and explicit debates on the suspension of autonomy or on the necessity of limiting fundamental rights. Instead, Spanish government is pushing other institutions, such as the Constitutional Court, prosecutors, police and judges, as well as their own executive powers, beyond their ordinary limits. Continue reading >>
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04 July 2017

Schrödingers Camp oder die Versammlungsfreiheit vor dem Gesetz

Der juristische Kampf um das Protestcamp gegen den G20-Gipfel in Hamburg war keine ruhmvolle Episode in der Geschichte des Grundrechts auf Versammlungsfreiheit. Die Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts war eine Mogelpackung, die Einwände der Stadt Hamburg eine Farce, und der einstweilige Rechtsschutz hat sich vorläufig als unfähig erwiesen, Rechtsfrieden herzustellen. Es zeigt sich, dass der Rechtsunterworfene, nur weil er vor Gericht obsiegt, noch lange nicht zu seinem Recht kommen muss, sondern mitunter wieder genau da anlangt, wo er am Anfang gestartet ist. Continue reading >>
08 August 2016

Erdogan in Köln – Zumutungen des Versammlungsrechts II

Letzte Woche habe ich die Entscheidungen zu der Pro-Erdogan Kundgebung in Köln kommentiert. Zum Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung lag mir der Auflagenbescheid des Polizeipräsidiums Köln nicht vor. Da es hierzu Fragen gab und der Bescheid mir nun zugänglich gemacht wurde, möchte ich meine bisherigen Ausführungen ergänzen. Continue reading >>
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