Münster/Cologne (dpa/lnw) - The city of Cologne has been allowed to close the restaurant of an innkeeper who sees herself as belonging to the "Kingdom of Germany". This was decided by the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia in an urgent procedure. The woman had taken legal action against the city's measure in the summer of 2020. The supporters of this alleged "kingdom" are assigned to the heterogeneous scene of the so-called Reichsbürger and self-governors in the NRW constitutional protection report.
According to the court, the woman had opened a restaurant in Cologne at the end of July 2020, which she wanted to run as a "purpose operation" of the "Kingdom of Germany" in the form of a clubhouse without a restaurant permit. Only "nationals and relatives" of this "kingdom" should have access. The landlady did not see herself as bound by hygiene regulations: in addition to the law of the “kingdom”, there were no other rights and obligations to be observed.
One day after the opening, the city of Cologne closed the restaurant and sealed it - and acted legally, as the higher administrative court decided on August 12: the woman did not have the necessary restaurant permit. She had proven to be unreliable for such an operation, and there was also a lack of willingness to run it in compliance with applicable German law. The restaurant could not be a "club bar", among other things, because the "kingdom" is not a club within the meaning of the Civil Code. The decision cannot be appealed.
In part, however, the woman was right: the city had also forbidden her to run any trades beyond the restaurant and threatened further coercive measures. According to the Higher Administrative Court, however, an administrative decision would have been needed beforehand due to the lack of urgency for these measures.
