Munich (dpa / lby) - In the past few weeks, the Bavarian police have taken a total of 33 climate activists into long-term custody. As of Friday, 17 of them were still not at large. The judges have ordered these people to be taken into custody until next Monday (November 14) or December 2, i.e. for a total of 8 or 30 days. This was announced by the Ministry of the Interior in Munich at the request of the German Press Agency. The other people were released after four to seven days, one person the following day.
Recently, young men and women in downtown Munich had repeatedly glued themselves to the street in protest against what they saw as inadequate climate policy - and were then taken into custody. The possibility for this is provided by the long-controversial Bavarian Police Responsibilities Act: Based on a judicial decision, people can be taken into custody for up to a month in order to prevent the commission or continuation of an administrative offense "of considerable importance to the general public" or a criminal offence. This period can later be extended by a maximum of one additional month.
A broad alliance has called for a demonstration this Sunday - everyone involved is demanding the immediate abolition of preventive custody and the release of all climate activists.
The Bavarian state government had the opportunity to take climate activists into custody for a month as a preventive measure, most recently defended as an act of a well-fortified democracy. "Preventive measures are necessary to prevent crimes that are announced that are obviously imminent," said Head of State Florian Herrmann (CSU) after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The same applies if there is an obvious risk of repetition. And the rule of law is making use of the possibilities offered by the Bavarian Police Tasks Act: "A well-fortified democracy simply cannot be danced around on its own."
Several lawsuits are still pending before the Bavarian Constitutional Court, which are also directed against preventive detention.
