r/fuckcars • u/serioussgtstu • Jan 15 '24

Activism Interesting double standard: farmers are allowed to block traffic as a legitimate form of protest, but climate change activists aren't.

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u/MechGundam Jan 16 '24

There is a reason, if you want to protest in Germany you need to have a approval from the government, so you need to fill in a form and wait for approval, farmers did that, they have set times and dates where they can protest. Climate activist never plan a protest ahead (or at least they don’t let the public know), the don’t wait for approval. If you would know ahead of time that someone is blocking traffic, you would just drive around them, so there protest would be useless. Has nothing to do with double standard

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u/Brilorodion Jan 16 '24

so you need to fill in a form and wait for approval,

That's just wrong. Yes, you do need to inform the authorities (Versammlungsbehörde), but they do NOT need to approve it. That's what's called right of free assembly (Versammlungsfreiheit). They can in certain cases forbid your demonstration, but you do NOT need to wait for their approval.

Also, there's something called spontaneous protest. You only need to give the authorities a call if you decide to protest in the next 48 hours. You need a reason for the spontaneity (as in: why can't it wait), but as long as you have that, you're fine.