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On Tuesday of the second week of Advent, a ticket inspection escalated on the ICE 881 from Hamburg to Hanover: the train attendant speaks to a passenger who does not wear a mouth and nose cover, the 58-year-old refuses to put on a mask and calls the train employee a "domina." “- Apparently he is so tormented by the request to adhere to the applicable rules.

Only the federal police called in can put the man in Lüneburg into the fresh air.

The next day, a 22-year-old in Gießen attacked a railway employee because he had pointed out that a mask is required, on Thursday of the same week an unknown passenger on the regional express train 17007 between Offenburg and Freiburg pushed another passenger from her seat and insulted her, because she does not have a mouth and nose covering.

Hardly a day goes by in these months without some kind of trouble with mask refusers.

There are only a few cases in view of the many millions of passengers who now adhere to the rule that you have to protect yourself and others from infection with a mouth and nose cover.

Nevertheless, the federal police have been in constant use for weeks to check the mask requirement.

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According to its own information, it does not record how many insults were found in connection with the controls.

But there are likely to be a few, as a look at the reports of the individual inspections all over the country shows: On December 12th, the federal police in Duisburg caught two passengers with falsified certificates that were supposed to exempt them from the mask requirement, and two days later a person spat at them a train attendant in Stendal because she doesn't want to wear a mask.

Mask refusers face permanent exclusion from carriage

It is true that recalcitrant mask refusers not only have to get off at the next train station, they are now also threatened with a fine in all federal states.

But this may not be imposed by either the Deutsche Bahn (DB) or the local federal police.

Instead, the personal details are recorded and forwarded to the local health authorities.

A permanent so-called exclusion from promotion could be more effective.

Deutsche Bahn already has experience with this.

In individual cases, such bans on getting on trains in the future have already been issued against football fans who had rioted on the way to a game.

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According to information from WELT AM SONNTAG, DB now also sees this possibility in the case of mask refusers who are repeatedly caught on trains without a mouth and nose covering.

The group invokes Paragraph 4, Paragraph 2 of the Railway Traffic Regulations.

This states that an exclusion from transport "can be pronounced preventively in the event of imminent danger", a DB spokesman said.

"Anyone who repeatedly refuses to wear a mouth and nose cover on public transport without being able to make an exception credible is violating the corona protection regulations of the federal states and thus creates a risk of repetition for public safety and order." So far, one has such a preventive exclusion from carriage has not yet been imposed.

“Passengers and DB employees are also endangered by those who refuse to cover their mouths and nose,” argues the railroad spokesman.

Found 200,000 train drivers without masks

"For the addressee of an exclusion from transport, this means that if they behave again conspicuously, they will receive a criminal complaint for trespassing." Of course, the railway cannot control whether those who are being excluded from transport actually adhere to it and no longer on trains climb.

But the legal risk if the repeat offender is caught is significantly greater.

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Because then there is no longer only the threat of being kicked out at the next train station and a fine, but a procedure due to a criminal offense.

This can be punished with a fine or even a prison sentence of up to a year.

Repeat offenders would not be noticed when boarding the train, but should they not wear a mask again, this would be noticed just like the existing transport ban during the ticket inspection.

According to the Federal Police, between September 12 and December 7 alone, almost 200,000 people were found in trains and stations without the mandatory mouth and nose covering.

With millions of passengers a day, that's a relatively small number.

In most cases, the officers left it with a warning when the passengers then put on a mask.

The personal details of just under 3700 passengers were recorded and sent to the respective competent state authorities, which are now to initiate administrative fine proceedings.

During this time, 224 passengers had to be forced to disembark because they showed themselves unreasonable and did not want to put on a mask.

In the event of a recurrence, you would face permanent preventive exclusion from carriage.

In December, DB announced that it would once again intensify controls on trains, particularly for travel.

According to railway information, compliance with the mask requirement should be checked by DB security staff or federal police officers on every second long-distance train.

You can read the entire research in WELT AM SONNTAG.

We are happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.

Source: WELT AM SONNTAG