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Cologne (dpa) - The police have to stop the video surveillance of the area behind Cologne Central Station for the time being.
According to its own statements, the Cologne Administrative Court granted an urgent application from a citizen on Tuesday.
The ban applies until the case has been finally clarified in a proceeding (Ref .: 20 L 2340/19).
As a consequence of the New Year's Eve in Cologne in 2015/2016, the police are using permanently installed video cameras to monitor areas in front of the main train station and the cathedral as well as the Cologne rings.
Since 2019 the surveillance has been extended to other public areas, including Breslauer Platz behind the main train station.
This is justified by the fact that it is a crime focus.
The complaining citizen sees his fundamental right to informational self-determination violated by the camera recordings. He had already sued several times and was unsuccessful, but this time the court granted his urgent application. Reason: The Breslauer Platz is not a crime hotspot. A comparison of the available figures on street crime with the rest of the city shows that only 0.2 percent of all such offenses in the city are committed there. In fact, street crime has fallen by half since 2015. An appeal against the decision can be lodged with the Higher Administrative Court in Münster.