Sunday, May 2nd, 2021
240 arrests
May 1st ends in violence in Berlin
Violent clashes between left-wing demonstrators and the police broke out in several cities in the evening. The biggest protest is forming in Berlin. The police reported violent attacks on the emergency services. The demo organizers, for their part, raise serious allegations.
In Berlin, during the “revolutionary May Day demonstration” with thousands of participants, left-wing demonstrators and the police clashed hard. According to the Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik, 240 people were arrested. According to an initial estimate, 20 emergency services were injured in the evening demonstration with 8,000 to 10,000 demonstrators. The number could still increase. Slowik condemned the violent attacks as “unacceptable”.
The leader of the demonstration had declared the protest over in the evening after being attacked from the crowd, the police said. The “revolutionary May 1st demonstration” wanted to move from Hermannplatz in Neukölln to Kreuzberg, but part of it only came as far as Sonnenallee. The police had to defend themselves against violent attacks there. There were stones and bottles hailing against the emergency services. Rioters dragged dumpsters and pallets into the street and set them on fire. Flames flared up again and again in different places.
In Neukölln, police officers were repeatedly attacked in the evening when they tried to pull troublemakers out of the train. There were arrests, police officers used pepper spray. Paramedics were on duty. Participants were also arrested near the Neukölln Arcaden. The police had initially isolated a block with black-clad demonstrators at Neukölln town hall, saying that the corona regulations had not been complied with. The group was excluded from the meeting. The “revolutionary May Day demonstration” was supposed to be directed against racism, capitalism and rent policy.
Organizers level allegations against police
Police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said the violent attacks against emergency services came after the front part of the demonstration had moved on. The demonstration organizers accused the police of having separated the train on Karl-Marx-Straße. Demonstrators were beaten for no reason.
The SPD interior expert Tom Schreiber tweeted that left and right-wing extremists don’t care about Covid-19. Both stand for the hatred and violence against police officers. “They are enemies of democracy”. Around midnight, the situation was largely calmed, according to the police. The night curfew also applied in the capital from 10 p.m. Nevertheless, there were still numerous people in Kreuzberg on the Paul-Lincke-Ufer and in the Mauerpark. Some of them celebrated with loud music. A helicopter circled over the Mauerpark after 11 p.m. People are spoken to and asked to go home, as a police spokeswoman said.
How many reports were written for administrative offenses has not yet been determined. A police balance is expected on Sunday. On May 1, the police were deployed across the city with a large number. About 5600 officials secured numerous demonstrations since the morning. The police in the capital were supported by officials from several federal states and the federal police.
Injured police officers in Frankfurt
In other German cities, too, there were violent clashes with the police during May demonstrations by left-wing groups. In Frankfurt around 3,000 people had first gathered on Opernplatz for a “Day of Anger” and then marched through the station district. Several officers were injured in clashes with the police, said a spokesman. Fireworks and smoke pots were thrown from the demonstration. Officials were also attacked with bottles and stones. There have therefore been arrests. A water cannon was later used to break up a sit-in by a group of around 20 after the police declared the gathering over because of the unsettled outcome.
At least two demonstrators had to receive emergency medical care that evening. On Twitter, the operations management denied allegations that the emergency services were responsible. A spokesman stated that two men were involved in medical emergencies.
Fights in Hamburg, firecrackers in Leipzig
In Hamburg, the police broke up a meeting in front of the Rote Flora with water cannons. Hundreds of people had gathered in the afternoon in the piazza in front of the left-wing autonomous center, ignoring the minimum distance. After repeated requests to leave the square, two water cannons sprayed the street clear. In the evening, the police stopped an unauthorized demonstration by left-wing extremists and arrested around 150 demonstrators at Lohmühlenpark in St. Georg.
According to the police, a demonstration with around 80 left-wing extremists between Schanzenpark and Schlump underground station was stopped at noon. There were occasional fights when officials pushed the demonstrators from the anarchist scene off the street. A group of more than 40 mostly black-clad demonstrators were surrounded by the police a little later near the exhibition halls. You have been taken into custody, said a police spokesman.
In Leipzig, the police reported firecrackers thrown at their emergency services. Accordingly, around 200 participants at a previous rally had moved in the direction of the Connewitz district. Mobile elevators are currently not allowed, however, said a police spokesman. Therefore, the police have gathered forces there. Pyrotechnics and objects were thrown at the police from a group of 20 to 30 people. Several suspects were then arrested.
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