Berlin before May 1st: Occupied hostel and peaceful protest

Created: 04/30/2022Updated: 04/30/2022 21:19

An empty hostel in Berlin Mitte was occupied.

© Christophe Gateau/dpa

Rallies across the city, thousands of police officers on the streets.

Berlin has prepared for the usual left-wing actions on Labor Day - and wants to intervene massively in the event of riots.

Berlin - On the eve of May 1st, hundreds of people demonstrated and celebrated in Berlin.

According to initial information from the police, the protests were initially quiet.

However, it is expected that left-wing autonomists will break out in violence, as in the past decades.

According to a police spokeswoman, around 1,600 police officers were on duty in the city on Saturday.

According to Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD), there were up to 6,000 throughout the weekend - including from the federal police and other federal states.

Spranger warned that the police would intervene massively in the event of riots.

On Saturday, the police cleared an occupied hostel in Berlin-Mitte.

Activists had taken over the empty building in the morning.

The “Hostels to Housing” initiative stated that given the hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine, vacant premises should not remain unused.

The police intervened in the afternoon and, according to their own statements, took six people out of the house on Alte Schönhauser Straße.

Around the same time, left-wing groups began registered rallies in Wedding and Kreuzberg.

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Wedding against capitalism and for social change.

Under the motto "From the crisis to expropriation!

The rich should pay!” left-wing groups marched through the district in the afternoon.

The police spoke of up to 1000 participants at the top.

A police spokeswoman said the demonstration initially went “without any problems or incidents”.

In previous years, the event in Wedding had remained largely peaceful.

It could become critical in the evening hours at events on Kottbusser Platz and Rigaer Straße.

According to the police, almost 200 people demonstrated on Saturday afternoon at the “Kotti” in Berlin-Kreuzberg against the police station planned there.

Local residents welcome the project, but left-wing groups reject it.

The police initially spoke of a quiet situation.

A firework was then set off.

However, no one was injured, the spokeswoman said.

The street festival on Rigaer Strasse in Berlin-Friedrichshain began loudly but peacefully in the afternoon.

According to the police, around 350 visitors celebrated between Samariter- and Silvio-Meier-Straße - just a few meters from the partially occupied "Rigaer 94" building complex, in the vicinity of which crimes are repeatedly committed and the police are attacked.

Numerous police officers observed the events.

"So far, the process has been trouble-free," said a police spokeswoman in the early evening.

In the evening, a feminist demonstration in Mauerpark began with a rally.

This could lead to a heated atmosphere, said the police spokeswoman, referring to past experiences.

Nevertheless, one initially assumes that the process will run smoothly, but will intervene consistently in the event of criminal offenses and, if necessary, arrest people, according to the spokeswoman.

On Sunday there will be a whole series of demonstrations in Berlin: from the main rally of the German trade union federation on Labor Day at noon to motorbike or bicycle parades to protests against corona measures.

The police paid special attention to the demonstration by left-wing and radical left-wing groups entitled “Revolutionary May Day” on Sunday evening in Neukölln.

5,000 to 20,000 participants and possible outbreaks of violence are expected.

A total of up to 50,000 participants are expected at demonstrations and folk festivals over the weekend.

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"Of course we know that violence can and will most likely occur," said Interior Senator Spranger to RBB.

The police are following the strategy of the outstretched hand, but "of course intervene massively if there are riots." Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) also warned against violence and wished for a peaceful May Day "with strong messages".

dpa