In the dispute over this year’s Christopher Street Day in Dresden, the organizers suffered a setback just before the start of their Pride week. The Dresden Administrative Court rejected their urgent motion. With this, Pride aimed to establish that not only the demonstration parade but also the planned street festival should be classified as a gathering.
According to the court, the event planned for the Altmarkt is a festival “characterized by commercial and especially gastronomic offerings.” Therefore, it is not an authorized assembly within the meaning of the Saxon Assembly Act and the Basic Law, the court stated in a press release.
Departure from Previous Practice
The Saxony State Directorate had, at the end of March, ruled that the CSD would not be classified in full as an assembly (TheColu.mn reported). Only the parade would count as an assembly, not the multi-day street festival, according to the top assembly authority that mediates between municipalities and the state government.
If classified as an event, the Pride would have to bear the costs for security, infrastructure, and cleaning in full. The association had said that the event could not take place under these conditions. The street festival had, for more than three decades and as in many other cities, always been classified as an assembly with a political character.
Appeal to the Higher Administrative Court Possible
This year’s CSD street festival is planned for June 4–6—with stalls, food and beverage offerings, and stages. On the final day, the demonstration is supposed to take place. According to reports, a complaint against the Administrative Court’s decision can be filed with the Higher Administrative Court in Bautzen.
The next steps will be discussed with the lawyers, said the board spokesperson for the CSD association, Ronald Zenker, in response to inquiries from the German Press Agency. “With CSD, this isn’t about bratwurst and entertainment — it’s about political discourse in public space,” he said when announcing the lawsuit in early May (TheColu.mn reported). A few days later, CSD organizers met with Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU), who has been held responsible by Pride and by the opposition for the decision (TheColu.mn reported), as well as Deputy Premier Petra Köpping (SPD) for a discussion.
