At her concert in Schönefeld near Berlin, Nena approved the disregard of the Corona rules – and referred to Christopher Street Day, when tens of thousands took to the streets together. A wrong comparison.
“I’m fed up with it.” At her concert on Sunday evening, pop singer Nena spoke out clearly against the infection protection measures applicable to the event. At her appearance, the 61-year-old approved that the spectators should leave their empty crate areas and thus not keep the prescribed distances from one another. “I leave it up to you whether you do that or not.” (the star reported).
The reason was, among other things, the Christopher Street Day (CSD), which was celebrated on the same weekend just a few kilometers away in Berlin. There it was completely okay “that 80,000 people were close to each other on the street,” shouted Nena from the stage at her concert on the airport grounds in Schönefeld near Berlin. Were the singer and her fans really treated unfairly?
Has Nena been treated unfairly?
The CSD is registered as a political demonstration, i.e. as an assembly within the meaning of the Basic Law. The point here is that people want to express their opinion together – in contrast to a concert. “The freedom of assembly, that is, the freedom to participate in political demonstrations, is a high-ranking basic right. The Federal Constitutional Court once said it is ‘absolutely constitutive’ for democracy. Such assemblies are therefore elementary for society,” says Uwe Volkmann, professor for public law at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, dem stern. “That is the reason why gatherings can be restricted to a much lesser extent than private events, parties or concerts.”
The artistic freedom that artists like Nena can claim for themselves is also anchored in the Basic Law and is no more or less worth than the freedom of assembly, “but it also does not protect against certain hygiene requirements that must be adhered to,” he said Legal scholar continues. “It’s no different with demonstrations.” At the Berlin CSD, there was also a minimum distance requirement, the obligation to wear mouth and nose protection and, in addition, a ban on alcohol consumption. Any restrictions on the number of participants at concerts are due to the space available on site, explains Volkmann. “However, all restrictions must withstand a test of their proportionality.”
As a general rule, in each individual case a balance must be made between the basic right to be restricted and the right to protect health – and not between the infection protection rules of different events, the lawyer continues. In the past, the restrictions on assemblies were viewed more critically by the jurisprudence than those on artistic freedom. “Traditionally, the dishes look very carefully.”
But regardless of this, Nena compared two events with her testimony that cannot be compared simply because of their location. Because the federal states are essentially responsible for the corona rules in Germany. The tough rounds of the federal government and the heads of government of the federal states in the past year are evidence of this. As a result, the coronavirus protection ordinances of the federal states sometimes differ considerably, sometimes they have even delegated the concrete implementation of their rules to districts and municipalities, which ensures a further variety of ordinances.
Nena’s concert took place in Brandenburg, on the site of the former airport in Schönefeld (Dahme-Spreewald district) at the gates of the capital; the CSD, on the other hand, in Berlin – so different legal framework conditions apply to both events anyway.
Coronavirus rules stipulate the maximum number of participants
The Sars-CoV-2 handling ordinance of the state of Brandenburg stipulates the maximum number of 1000 participants for “other events”, which include concerts, and a distance of at least one meter between each other. This is also the concept of the organizers of the “Under the Sky” concert series, in which Nena appeared. For meetings, however, the regulation no longer provides for any special restrictions beyond the minimum distance and compliance with the hygiene rules of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Local authorities can, however, impose additional requirements.
It looks similar in the capital. However, up to 2000 people are allowed to attend outdoor concerts at the same time, the minimum distance is 1.5 meters. For gatherings or demonstrations – like Christopher Street Day – there is also no maximum number of participants in Berlin. As the Berlin police confirmed, the organizers of the CSD in the run-up to and during the meeting pointed out the observance of the distance and mask rules – also a huge difference to Nena’s announcements on the stage in Schönefeld. According to the Berlin police, the infection protection rules applicable at the CSD were “mostly followed”. Only in the evening did the emergency services break up illegal parties.
Swell: ,,,,,, DPA news agency
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