Received 20/11/2019
Berlin. On Saturday evening,November 2, the demo for the preservation of Liebig34 and other threatened projects took place. Towards the end there were clashes with the police and damages at the construction site of the CG group. Here are some impressions and evaluations.The demo started simultaneously with only about 450 people at Lausitzer Platz and Köpi, where about the same amount of people had gathered.
Another demo had arrived from the Syndikat in Kreuzberg before. The two marches joined at the Silesian Gate and when the demo went over the Oberbaumbrücke to the Friedrichshain southern district, the crowd grew considerably. State officials report about 1000 people, our own numbers go up to 2000. Apart from fireworks, the demonstration remained quiet until then and the cops also kept distance. Then the demo went into the north district and past the construction site of the CG group, which was not protected by the cops. The spark ignited: The construction site barriers were torn down in order to get to the container of the security personel, which had controlled this road section until today and had terrorized residents.
According to the press, a security guard later said that he believed he had to run for his life. The container was demolished and a Bengalo probably landed in it. The already plastered new building was thrown at with paint. Then the attacks turned on the cops, who were inferior in number and insecure. They were attacked with construction site material, stones, bottles, fireworks and foldable benches, and there were also direct physical attacks. For this short period of time, moments arose in which some individuals and small groups took their freedom to create chaos. The mood was accompanied by chants from the organized ranks in solidarity: “All Cops are targets!”
The demo went on and shortly after the Rigaer78, between Silvio-Meier-Straße and Proskauer Straße several parked SUVs were smashed – questionably also some small cars. The operational command finally reacted to the surprising events by blocking off the two crossroads, which led to a kettle situation in which a very large crowd was trapped. After twenty minutes the kettle was lifted and the demo could move to Dorfplatz, where the obligatory pyro show of the Liebig34 was crowned with the unveiling of a giant poster. A little later, at Bersarin Square, the demo ended and many people headed towards Dorfplatz.
There was music out of the box. Here we talked about the events. Thus it cannot only be reported subjectively that the demo can be described as powerful and the attacks as an important offensive moment in the fight for the threatened projects. There was also a lot of talk about the injured people on our side. One person was unconscious and was first cared for by the demo Sanis until the cops let an ambulance through after a long delay. The exact events have not yet been cleared up, which hopefully will still happen. Either way, our solidarity goes to the injured and to those arrested, whose number, according to conservative estimates, was in the single figures. Their lot must be collectively shouldered. But the evening – at least between Liebig34 and Rigaer94 – was not over yet.
Aware of the global climate catastrophe, a smart car sharing e-mobile was politically improved and street lighting was reduced due to the residents’ initiative. The old trash cans were pushed onto Riga Street and set on fire, while the cops were massively attacked on Dorfplatz. It took a few minutes, more stones and paint attacks, until the cops could react by flooding the whole street. It was good that many people could not be repressed and the evening could end without further events when the operational command decided to withdraw their exposed mercenaries. So much for the course of the assembly.
The day after, public reactions have been cautious so far. The CDU reports exclusively about 40 injured police officers, which is not very credible, but on the Henkel scale of the demo it would have been the worst and most violent demo since 2016. As for the interference of the CDU, it must still be mentioned that the two showcase idiots Kurt Wansner and Burghardt Dregger (“tearing down Rigaer94 and letting three years wasteland lie fallow”) tried to capitalise on the date by organising a provocative “Kieztour” and information event in the Café Sibylle in Friedrichshain on the subject of Rigaer Straße on Saturday morning. Some committed people smashed the windows there on Friday evening (https://de.indymedia.org/node
Nevertheless, our hearts are beating in unison with the people in Hong Kong who attacked the cops and the state news agency with fire bombs, with the people on the territory of the state of Chile who rose up despite the massacres and torture, with Exarchia where another eviction of a squat was answered with Molotov cocktails, with the Gilets Jaunes, whom we can congratulate on the 1-year-old anniversary, with the people who make Leipzig a danger area for state thugs and of course with the determined ones who don’t wait for the collective moments but work on a daily basis to accomplish and achieve these moments.
Ein Zentrum aus der Rigaer, November 3, 2019
see video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn3zFOfi1rI