The Legal Implications of Standing in the Front Row: Coercion or Psychological Violence?

The matter even has a name: the second-tier case law, which has already been litigated all the way to the Federal Court of Justice. In short, this means: Anyone who stands in the front row is not physically, if you will, physically forced to stay standing. The car is stronger than the “climate glue” and it will pull in your legs.

Apart from the fact that you can be held criminally responsible for such behavior, Section 240 of the Criminal Code, which is responsible for coercion, always assumes physical violence or the threat of it (“I’ll hit you…”). But the “climate gluers” are sitting there peacefully and also have the constitutionally valued freedom of assembly behind them. This means: For the vehicles in the first row, it is a purely psychological matter, explains lawyer Dr. Schlottau.

With reference to the healthy public feeling, a change is urgently needed here. But lawyer Schlottau dampens expectations. Because popular sentiment is often not that healthy and the resulting anger is certainly not that healthy. “Respice Finem”, as the Latin says: Consider the end!

This means: something like this should never happen in a general state of excitement, rather some time should pass, facts should be collected and only then the law should possibly be adjusted. Because often new possibilities for legal action arise that were not actually intended with the initiative.