Some arrests and damage to property: Berlin before May 1st
Created: 05/01/2022, 07:58
A participant in the demo of left-wing groups holds a placard that reads 'Smash Patriarchy'.
© Paul Zinken/dpa
Rallies across the city, thousands of police officers on the streets.
Berlin has prepared for the usual left-wing actions on Labor Day.
The first panes broke the night before.
Berlin - The day before May 1st, thousands of people demonstrated and celebrated in Berlin.
For the most part, the protests have been quiet, according to police.
At a demonstration by feminists in Prenzlauer Berg, however, the atmosphere was heated on Saturday evening.
Paint bags flew, discs were thrown in, pyrotechnics ignited.
The police stopped the protest march several times.
According to a police spokeswoman, there were attacks on emergency services.
There have been isolated arrests, the spokeswoman said.
Finally, the applicant ended the event with around 2500 participants earlier than planned.
According to the 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.
It is expected that left-wing autonomists will erupt in violence on May 1, as has been the case in previous decades.
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.
The police followed developments at events at Kottbusser Platz and Rigaer Straße with particular attention.
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 afternoon street festival on Rigaer Strasse in Berlin-Friedrichshain was loud but peaceful.
According to the police, around 500 visitors celebrated at peak times 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.
Until the evening, the police spoke of a peaceful course.
This initially also applied to celebrations of Walpurgis Night in various parks such as the Mauerpark in Prenzlauer Berg.
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.
more on the subject
Newspaper: Police station at “Kotti” will be significantly more expensive
Police expect crimes to be committed during demonstrations
Prince William opens up about his idyllic childhood 'in the garden'
"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
