Press Release June 1st 2007

Court (OVG)

• Demonstration Ban due to “foreign political interests”
• Coalition: “International Demonstration is not a single-file march!”

With court ruling – 3 M 53/07 on 31/05/07 the OVGof Greifswald confirmed a general ban of the Star March.
The court has “no objection to a complete ban”.
No demonstration can take place, neither in the ‘Banned Area I’ (fence + 200
metres security zone) nor in the ‘Banned Area II’ (altogether over 40km2).

Instead the protest is to be shifted to Kroepelin and Bad Doberan.
So on Bundesstrasse 105 (national highway) protestors may demonstrate
back and
forth.

However, “it is not possible to carry out the demonstration at a
distance of six
kilometres that might have any areal or content relevance to that which we
oppose”, the Star march coalition criticised.

The simple fear that the German federal government’s external relations to
‘foreign states’ could be strained by assemblies was considered
sufficient for
the court. Protest rallies in proximity to the state leaders could be
perceived
to be an “act of unfriendliness”.

In the process both the court and police dispensed with evidence of actual
danger.
It was in ‘foreign political interests that risks to all delegates should be
averted already in the run-up to the event’.

The ‘Security Concept’ has been demanded by foreign security agencies
that are
not bound by the federal republic’s constitution. "The court is not
“bothered
by this”, criticised lawyer Ulrike Donart. “This is a dark day for basic
rights
of freedom of assembly”.

“I am apalled that the Higher Administrative Court has such little
respect for
such basic protected rights, particularly with concern to assembly. With
this
result the court has subordinated itself to the partially cheeky
‘order’ and
political security argument of the police.From this perspective the
basic right
of assembly is threatened to fade into insignificance”, added lawyer Carsten
Gericke. “Assembly Bans lead to infrations and police violence”.

“We will not reduce our international mobilisation against the politic
of the G8
to a single file march”, the Star March (Sternmarsch) coalition stated
afterwards.Since October 2006 there have been calls to demonstrate
internationally.

The coalition has lodged a complaint with the federal Constitutional Court.