Facts
The complainant, Daniele Jenni, had applied for a permit to hold an anti-fascist public gathering with a multicultural street festival on August 1, 2006, in Brunnen, on behalf of the "Alliance for a colorful Brunnen" and in his own name. The Ingenbohl municipal council rejected this request, and the appeal lodged against it was dismissed by the Administrative Court of the Canton of Schwyz.
The complainant challenges the refusal of the requested permit for the "holding of an anti-fascist public gathering with a multicultural street festival on August 1, 2006" in Brunnen. He claims that the refusal of the permit is not justified by a sufficient public and proportionate interest and violates his freedom of opinion and assembly under Art. 16 and 22 Cst. as well as Art. 10 and 11 ECHR.
Considerations
The Federal Court has outlined the principles of freedom of opinion and assembly with regard to public gatherings. Art. 16 Cst. explicitly guarantees freedom of opinion and grants every person the right to form their opinion freely and express and disseminate it unhindered. The freedom of assembly under Art. 22 Cst. guarantees the right to organize assemblies, participate in assemblies, or stay away from assemblies.
The Federal Court has found that the refusal of the permit for the gathering on August 1, 2006, is consistent with the Constitution. The authorities were entitled to assume that right-wing extremist groups would try to reach Brunnen this year as well, in one way or another. This leads to the assumption, based on the general assessment of the situation, that they would try to disrupt or even prevent the gathering planned by the complainant - and perceived as a provocation - and would not shy away from violence, with corresponding endangerment of the gathering participants and police property in general.
The Federal Court has also found that the circumstances of the gathering planned by the…