The “Stop the NRW Police Act” alliance, made up of civil rights campaigners, parties and associations, also wants to take to the streets in Düsseldorf on 8 December to demonstrate against the planned new police act. In July, around 10,000 people took to the streets in Düsseldorf. The alliance includes the state associations from the Green and Left parties, the data protection organisation Digitalcourage, Attac and the Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy.

The stricter laws could result in people no longer exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression and demonstration out of fear, explained Sophie Kiebler, spokesperson for the Bonn action week. The broadening of police powers could, for example, lead to innocent people being detained more quickly and for longer simply on the basis of vague allegations.

The new police act is intended to significantly extend police powers of monitoring digital communication and handling those likely to be a threat to public safety. The state government put forward amendments in October following widespread criticism from human rights and data protection activists. The controversial term “imminent danger” was deleted and the surveillance of messenger services like WhatsApp or internet telephone services like Skype can only be permitted by an order in special cases.

This does not go far enough for the “Stop the NRW Police Act” alliance. They say that instead of the “imminent terrorist threat” there is now a broadly defined catalogue of “terrorist crimes.” The alliance is also critical because according to the draft, police can detain people who are considered a danger for a maximum of 14 days after a judge’s decision instead of 48 hours. They allege this is a break with the principle of presumption of innocence. In the original draft, precautionary detention of up to a month was envisaged.

(Original text: epd. Translation: kc)