The ban on the Pegida demonstration yesterday in Assen will probably not stand up to a judge. This is what Jan Brouwer, professor of General Legal Science at the University of Groningen (RUG), expects. “Most bans are reversed by the courts,” he says.
Pegida wanted to burn a Koran yesterday at the court in Assen. At the last minute, Mayor Marco Out banned this. He said he had received signals from the police, which meant that safety could not be guaranteed. Out cannot say exactly what the content of the information is.
The demonstrating organization says it will return to Assen, and Jan Brouwer expects it to appeal. “Generally she does.” This does not mean the demonstration is back, because it is banned. “But then they come back. Then the mayor must still provide sufficient police. It is a primary task to facilitate any demonstration of any kind.”
A mayor may only ban a demonstration for compelling reasons. That is not allowed anyway because of the content. The law does state that it may be prohibited if there are not enough police to guarantee safety. This happened, for example, in Arnhem, where Quran burning was also banned while the NATO summit was in session. “He had good arguments for that. Because of the NATO summit, there was insufficient police capacity. The judge ruled in his favour. Whether that is also the case is highly questionable.” Extra police had been flown in from eastern and central Netherlands because of the announced demonstration.
“Mayor is banning a demonstration in an undemocratic manner, without any form of transparency!”, Edwin Wagensveld of Pegida responded today on social media to Assen’s demonstration ban. “It is not the first, but certainly not the last time that a mayor limits or bans a demonstration at the last minute, with vague arguments.”
Brouwer says that it very rarely happens that a demonstration is banned.