I should put a nuance on my remark that police can ask for ID without cause; after looking a bit deeper into it, this is not entirely true. There has to be cause but that is defined very broadly. Examples mentioned on the government website on when police can ask for ID, and when they can take you into custody when you can't, include 'a car driving around at night in an industrial area', 'there is a shooting in a pub and for the inquiry it is necessary to establish who are the witnesses', 'youth are being a nuisance in the neighbourhood', 'there is a fire and the arsonist might be amongst the spectators' (!).
Not quite 'papieren, bitte' yet, and not as dramatic as I made it sound, but still not what one would expect in a land claiming to value freedom. (my other points still stand though, including those about the 'no cause search' zones)
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I should put a nuance on my remark that police can ask for ID without cause; after looking a bit deeper into it, this is not entirely true. There has to be cause but that is defined very broadly. Examples mentioned on the government website on when police can ask for ID, and when they can take you into custody when you can't, include 'a car driving around at night in an industrial area', 'there is a shooting in a pub and for the inquiry it is necessary to establish who are the witnesses', 'youth are being a nuisance in the neighbourhood', 'there is a fire and the arsonist might be amongst the spectators' (!).
Not quite 'papieren, bitte' yet, and not as dramatic as I made it sound, but still not what one would expect in a land claiming to value freedom. (my other points still stand though, including those about the 'no cause search' zones)