The events of 1er-May were particularly tense in Berlin. At least 93 police officers were injured and 354 people arrested on Saturday during various rallies, marked in the evening by clashes, according to the police and local authorities.
“Violence during rallies is absolutely unacceptable”, reacted Barbara Slowik, head of the Berlin police. “The situation escalated but was quickly brought under control”, she said, however. The head of internal affairs of the city of Berlin, Andreas Geisel, condemned “The rage of blind destruction” and violence. The mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, himself, affirmed that “Violence, hatred and ignorance had no place in our society, nor the 1er May, nor any other day ”.
In total, around 30,000 people marched on International Workers’ Day in several processions throughout the day in the German capital, most of which took place peacefully.
5,600 police officers deployed
It was in the evening that the situation became tense, when, according to the police, the police dispersed a procession of black blocs whose members did not respect the health restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. .
Of “Violent clashes” then occurred, demonstrators throwing bottles or stones at the police and lighting garbage containers or wooden pallets on the road, explained the head of the Berlin police. These demonstrators were united under the slogan “1er revolutionary May ”. And, according to the organizers, dozens of them were injured by “Unjustified blows” police forces.
Police had deployed some 5,600 people on Saturday in fear of incidents.
More than twenty gatherings were organized in total for this 1er-May in Berlin, with various slogans ranging from protest against rising rents to migration policy through opposition to restrictive measures linked to the pandemic. Other protests, in Hamburg and Frankfurt, also ended with arrests, with police using water cannons to disperse protesters throwing bottles or fireworks.