Photo from November 2021  protest against CovidCheck.  Photo: Luc Deflorenne, archive

Photo from November 2021  protest against CovidCheck.  Photo: Luc Deflorenne, archive

After weekly protests that have led to altercations on several occasions, the CSV now wants stricter legislation to regulate demonstrations. Most notably, the party is demanding that organisers be held liable in the event of an assault.  

"The CSV says yes to freedom of expression and the right of assembly. However, the CSV says no just as clearly to violence and attacks in the name of freedom of expression,” says MP Laurent Mosar published on 24 January. Serge Wilmes, also an MP and deputy mayor of Luxembourg City adds that the capital and country should continue to represent democratic solidarity, an image the protests undermine, according to the party.

Applauding the decision by minister of justice Sam Tanson (déi Gréng) to --such as spitting on police agents--the Christian-Social People’s party wants more.

“The protests and the misuse of the concept of freedom of expression for the purpose of creating unrest prove the need for a law on demonstrations,” says CSV-deputy and mayor of Grevenmacher Léon Gloden.

What some are calling tourism protests--which internal security minister Henri Kox --have brought unrest to the usually quiet capital of the grand duchy since early December.

The CSV wants the introduction of a general exclusion order, the introduction of liability of organisers in the event of assaults, the imposition of substantial penalties for violations, and the possibility of prohibiting a demonstration under certain conditions. In the past, the protests were organised anonymously. 

Gloden also argued that stricter laws for demonstrations would allow those scared to join protests in their current form to share their opinion more freely, and therefore ensure a democratic representation of thoughts on different subjects.

The “marches blanches” that regularly take over parts of Luxembourg’s capital initially protested the covid-19 vaccines and sanitary restrictions, but now also attract conspiracy theorists and extremists. Over the last months,

proposed by prime minister Xavier Bettel (DP) is being prepared for implementation within the next few months.