'Platzverweis'New draft bill to strengthen police action against public disturbances

On Wednesday, Minister for Home Affairs Léon Gloden presented a bill to the government that would strengthen police power to remove troublemakers obstructing traffic, access to buildings, or disturbing the peace.

In German and Luxembourgish, this specific authority is called “Platzverweis,” in other words, “the power to remove.”

The measure was included in the coalition agreement of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) and Democratic Party (DP) alliance and will now pass through the Chamber of Deputies.

“The public space belongs to everyone. The government takes seriously the recurring complaints from residents, shopkeepers, and pedestrians about individuals blocking entrances or causing disturbances,” states Gloden.

The proposed legislation aims to clearly define behaviors that could trigger police intervention under these new powers. These include :

• Obstructing the public entrance to or exit from a public or private building in a manner that impedes the freedom of movement of others;
• Disturbing public peace, health or safety;
• Obstructing traffic on public highways;
• Interfering with the freedom of passersby to come and go in places accessible to the public;
• Pestering pedestrians in places accessible to the public.

The police can respond to these situations in three stages:

• A call to order;
• A request to leave;
• Removal.

This removal may ‘be carried out by force, within a radius of no more than one kilometre and for a period of 48 hours’, according to the Ministry. All action will, of course, be documented by the police. In cases of repeated non-compliance (at least twice within 30 days), the mayor has the authority to impose a temporary ban on accessing the premises for up to 30 days.