Berlin mayor demands tighter assembly law after Ashura demonstration with tied‑up children
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner wants the city’s assembly law tightened after an Ashura procession featured chants of “Death to the unbelievers” and a re‑enactment with children bound together.
The Ashura demonstration
Over the weekend, a Shia mourning procession titled “Aschura‑Marsch” sparked outrage in Berlin. The demonstration, announced as a solidarity rally for oppressed people worldwide, included a theatrical depiction of the historical abduction of women and children. According to police, children were tied together in the scene while temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius. A police commander immediately prohibited the depiction, and the performance was halted. The Jewish Forum for Democracy and against Antisemitism (JFDA) described the event as Islamist, noting that participants identified with icons of Islamic terrorism.
Wegner condemns law from 2021
Kai Wegner, the CDU’s top candidate and Governing Mayor of Berlin, seized on the incident to demand an overhaul of the city’s assembly law. In a statement to the German Press Agency, Wegner said the current rules, passed by a coalition of SPD, Greens and the Left in 2021, are a mistake. He argued that the right to assembly should not shield those who chant incitement or glorify violence.
A freedom of assembly that protects Islamist or anti‑Semitic incitement and mock executions on our streets is not an achievement, but a mistake in the law of the SPD, Greens and Left from 2021.
Whoever chants ‘Death to the unbelievers’ or glorifies violence cannot invoke a fundamental right – he abuses it.
Call to restore ‘public order’ clause
Wegner wants to reintroduce the concept of “public order” into Berlin’s assembly statute. The 2021 reform had removed that instrument, and Wegner says the assembly authority needs it back to impose restrictions or ban rallies before they happen, rather than relying on lengthy criminal evidence‑gathering. He warned that without tougher rules, extremist slogans would spread unchecked, even among children.
Political deadlock
CDU and SPD, the two governing parties in Berlin, had originally planned to revise the assembly law, but negotiations stalled. The SPD has announced that no decision will be made before the House of Representatives election in September. That leaves the 2021 version in force despite weekend’s events.
