West Germany: Striking Back

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A demonstration of muscle

The protesters who hurled stones and paint at Vice President Bush's limousine in Krefeld last month managed to slip through tight security lines with little difficulty. Two weeks later, police in the industrial city of Wuppertal arrested 104 youths who, under the guise of practicing karate, were apparently preparing to stage equally disruptive protests. In response to the escalating threat of violence, the Cabinet of Chancellor Helmut Kohl last week approved a tough and controversial new bill. It would allow the police to disperse all demonstrators, whether they are engaged in violent action or not, simply if they are in the presence of an outbreak of violence. Anyone who disobeys police orders would face a prison sentence of up to one year.

The proposal, which was advanced by right-wing Interior Minister Friedrich Zimmermann, empowers the police to determine both the extent and the source of violence. It also effectively means that those who remain in the midst of a turbulent protest will be considered guilty unless they can prove their innocence.

The bill has sparked widespread public criticism. Complained Gerd Pfeiffer, president of the Federal Court in Karlsruhe: "It cannot be right that the state, in order to arrest violent rioters, criminalizes all peaceful participants in a demonstration." Jürgen Schmude, party whip for the opposition Social Democratic Party, labeled the proposed legislation "a heavy blow to liberty and the rule of law." Yet few potential demonstrators seemed to be deterred. Declared a parliamentary deputy of the antinuclear Green Party: "We will never be violent, but we will also not fight against those who choose to demonstrate in a violent way."

The government, which enjoys a decisive majority in the Bundestag, expects the bill to become law this fall. That is about the time peace activists plan to stage a series of rallies to protest the imminent deployment of new U.S. nuclear missiles.