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Burning barricades on Rigaer Strasse
Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / REUTERS
In the Berlin district of Friedrichshain, supporters of the partially occupied house at 94 Rigaer Strasse had another clash with the police.
The police were on Wednesday morning with a clearing armor and a water cannon in front of the barricaded house.
The police announced on Twitter that the emergency services and the fire brigade had not been let through to a burning barricade.
Among other things, stones were thrown from surrounding roofs.
The photos showed barricades made of car tires, barbed wire and wooden slats, as well as fire and billows of smoke.
The police used water cannons and clearing tanks to put out the fire.
According to police, around 200 officers were on site.
As the »Tagesspiegel« reports, the situation calmed down again shortly after noon.
The fires were put out by the police, and onlookers were pushed back in side streets.
A police helicopter is circling over the neighborhood.
The reason for the riots is apparently a fire protection inspection planned for Thursday in the Rigaer Strasse 94 building. The police have therefore already imposed a meeting and parking ban for parts of the street between Wednesday afternoon and Friday evening.
Only residents have access to the cordoned-off area.
This met with resistance from the squatters.
The street will be "barricaded and an autonomous zone set up to prevent the Senate's red zone," they wrote on Twitter.
The residents of the house tried to defend themselves against the fire protection inspection with an urgent motion, but failed on Tuesday before the Berlin administrative court.
The district's order to tolerate the inspection was not objectionable, the court said.
There is an urgent threat to public safety and order.
For years there has been a dispute over the house, which has been occupied since 1990 and is considered a meeting place for the left-wing extremist scene.
There have been riots several times, for example during searches.
In the immediate vicinity, the "Liebig 34" house, which was also occupied, was evacuated by the police last October.
fek / AFP
