In Bavaria, church services in the open air are not subject to any restriction on the number of participants. That is why the lawyer Markus Haintz unceremoniously declared a demonstration on the Theresienwiese in Munich at the beginning of the meeting to be a service on Sunday. Around 1,900 people had gathered to demonstrate against the corona restrictions.
On the arrival and departure of the participants, the police said they gave around 200 instructions about not wearing or not wearing properly mouth and nose covers. In two cases there was a complaint because of violations of the Infection Protection Act, in five cases investigations were necessary because of the suspicion of presenting false certificates.
Conversion into “worship” apparently accepted
Lawyers from the Interior Ministry had accepted the conversion of the anti-corona demo on Theresienwiese into a church service, a police spokesman told Bavarian Broadcasting. It looks like it is actually a service, he said. As long as the formal requirements for it are met, one can not proceed against it. However, the rally’s rededication may have legal consequences for the organizers.
Officially, the district administration department only allowed 1,000 participants, the organizer had registered 5,000.
At the beginning of the rally, the lawyer Markus Haintz criticized that the rest of the people had been deprived of their right to freedom of assembly. The demonstrators see their basic rights being impaired by the corona restrictions. They held up posters with the words “We say goodbye” or “Mask requirement is child abuse”.
When the event developed into a concert, the organizer was informed accordingly by the police. However, the organizer did not show understanding, so that the event was finally ended by the police shortly before 7 p.m.
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