Saxon cabinet approves draft for new assembly law

The Saxon cabinet has approved the draft for a new assembly law and is thus seeking to improve cooperation with the organizers of demonstrations. Accordingly, the assembly authorities are to work towards cooperation with the organizers at all stages. According to Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU), findings from the practice of assemblies have been taken into account. The law should be clear, concise and easier to handle, he said.

The protection of media representatives at gatherings is expressly formulated as a task of the authorities. Journalists should identify themselves to the responsible authority or the police enforcement service so that appropriate measures can be taken to protect them. Experience from the coronavirus pandemic is also taken into account, when gatherings often took place without a leader. Participants in the demonstration are now supposed to appoint a leader from their own ranks. If this does not work, the authorities should be able to regulate the process.

At an initial presentation of the draft law in the summer, Schuster described the Free State of Bavaria as a "very assembly-friendly federal state". At the time, he emphasized that there was hardly any other federal state where so many rallies and marches take place in order to participate in political discourse. The focus was on the contemporary protection of freedom of assembly as an essential core element of democracy, he said on Tuesday. The law will now be forwarded to the state parliament for deliberation and resolution.