GERMANY: Court restricts cycling protest against new highway
On 29 July, a German administrative court restricted the location of a protest against a new highway organised by the environmental group “Tour de Natur”. The group has been organising annual protest bike rides since 1991. This year, they planned a protest against the extension of the A5 highway — on the highway itself. However, local authorities and administrative courts prohibited the protesters from using the highway for their protest, citing safety concerns. Article 8 of the German Basic Law (freedom of assembly) generally protects the right to choose the location of the assembly as well. Exceptions exist if public safety is threatened. However, if the purpose of the assembly is directly connected to a certain location, this has to be taken into account in the legal assessment, and the mere fact that a highway must be closed for a few hours does not pose a sufficient safety concern to restrict freedom of assembly. German courts have come to mixed results on the specific question of protests on highways in the past.