Germany to Restrict Right of Assembly

The German government coalition of Social Democrats and Greens has agreed on restricting the right to assembly in the fight against right-wing extremism. In an expert hearing in the parliamentary committee for internal affairs, the politicians agreed to change certain points in the submitted bills in order to make them constitutional. According to Volker Beck, an expert from the Green party, the demonstrations which affect the feelings of Nazi victims should be prohibited and people who publicly approve or justify the National Socialist despotism should be punished. In addition, the legislation gives the federal states the responsibility for determining which historic monuments should be excluded as locations for neo-Nazi protests. The German parliament, or Bundestag, will decide on the law on Friday. It is expected that the law will be adopted soon because the changes aim at preventing a planned NPD demonstration in front of Brandenburg Gate on May 8, the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II.