The unsustainable unconstitutionality of the total shutdown of Blockupy is beginning to manifest itself. This evening (15 May) the Police HQ in Frankfurt declared that all person-specific exclusion orders relating to the Blockupy protests on 16-19 May, which banned named individuals from entering inner Frankfurt, were immediately rescinded. The announcement appears to have followed preparatory discussions with the Administrative Court in Frankfurt. The orders were issued to persons whose name had been taken during a protest on 31 March 2012, and the court seems to have indicated that this reason was simply insufficient to justify such a restrictive type of order against persons wishing to exercise constitutional rights.
The draconian generality of the authorities’ attempts to prevent even the occurrence of a single Blockupy demonstration has driven academic constitutional lawyers to sign a resolution condemning the measures as contrary to the foundations of the Federal Republic.
The Blockupy actions have already begun turning Frankfurt’s financial district into a ghost town. Rumour is that private banks will be largely vacated for the rest of the week. Hessian-Thuringian Landesbank (Helaba) has reported that it is giving its employees days off or asking them to work from home. Barclays have removed their logo from their offices to “avoid paint bombs”. Deutsche Bank has refused to detail its contingency plans. The ECB has maintained that all its operations will be carried out and contingency plans are in place.