unrest
May 1 is a holiday in Germany, International Workers' Day--or in German, one of its names is Kampftag der Arbeiterbewegung, which roughly translates to "struggle day of the workers' movement". The latter is rather more indicative of the general feeling surrounding the holiday; there's been plenty of violence in the history of May 1 protests and I gather that now it's considered overall a good excuse for a little rabble rousing, particularly for punks and skinheads who specialize in that sort of thing.
Although the main organized demonstrations are today in Kreuzberg, the mischievousness started last night in Friedrichshain. So I went with Jeremy and Mario and the other Mario to see if any hooligans were setting fire to any cars or anything. We met up at Mauerpark (a park in memorial of the Berlin Wall), but there everybody was just playing soccer and holding impromptu concerts with guitars and bongo drums. The only hooligans around were the ones I came with. Mario said there's usually a bonfire, so he and Jeremy and the other Mario set out to start one. I swear, I was only there to take pictures. I managed to document the night's excitement with some of my most mediocre photography yet:
Since the police were patrolling the streets literally by the hundreds, it wasn't long before they caught wise to the plot. Two of them in green came over to talk to the Marios, and then four in black stopped by to see what was going on, and then three more in green came over to help the first ones. All in full anti-riot gear, all going out of their way to be more friendly and polite than any police I have ever, in my very limited experience, dealt with. Jeremy was taking pictures with a Polaroid camera, and the biggest policeman was giving him photographic advice.
After the Marios had been officially "advised" against starting any more fires, we decided to go back closer to Jeremy and Mario's apartment--to Boxhagener Platz, affectionately known as "the Boxi"--where more serious stuff was supposedly going down, hoping to see somebody blow something up or whatever. The closer we got, the more cops there were, and crowds of people in increasing density and belligerence. There were floodlights; there was a loudspeaker; there were water cannons at the ready. The police vans were literally lining the streets, nose to tail all around the Boxi. More of the anti-riot storm-trooper-looking types were regularly walking (not quite marching) around in ordered groups of twelve or so, or standing shoulder-to-shoulder blocking off streets they didn't want anyone else to shove their way into. We had to take a roundabout way to the guys' apartment, which another very large policeman in full anti-riot gear very politely explained.
There was plenty of broken glass on the street and groups of people periodically yelling stuff. We didn't get into the thick of it, but stayed out on the fringes where punks and regular guys and police were just kind of milling around. According to the news today, the thick of it was relatively tame: about a thousand people were on the Boxi, and the police made 61 arrests in all, but it wasn't as bad as it's been in years past. Here's a photo from the newspaper taken by someone savvier with a camera than I am:
So yeah, it was cool to be on the scene and see some of Berlin's rabble get roused. But don't worry, Mom, I finished out the night playing foosball and made it home safely to bed.
Although the main organized demonstrations are today in Kreuzberg, the mischievousness started last night in Friedrichshain. So I went with Jeremy and Mario and the other Mario to see if any hooligans were setting fire to any cars or anything. We met up at Mauerpark (a park in memorial of the Berlin Wall), but there everybody was just playing soccer and holding impromptu concerts with guitars and bongo drums. The only hooligans around were the ones I came with. Mario said there's usually a bonfire, so he and Jeremy and the other Mario set out to start one. I swear, I was only there to take pictures. I managed to document the night's excitement with some of my most mediocre photography yet:
Since the police were patrolling the streets literally by the hundreds, it wasn't long before they caught wise to the plot. Two of them in green came over to talk to the Marios, and then four in black stopped by to see what was going on, and then three more in green came over to help the first ones. All in full anti-riot gear, all going out of their way to be more friendly and polite than any police I have ever, in my very limited experience, dealt with. Jeremy was taking pictures with a Polaroid camera, and the biggest policeman was giving him photographic advice.After the Marios had been officially "advised" against starting any more fires, we decided to go back closer to Jeremy and Mario's apartment--to Boxhagener Platz, affectionately known as "the Boxi"--where more serious stuff was supposedly going down, hoping to see somebody blow something up or whatever. The closer we got, the more cops there were, and crowds of people in increasing density and belligerence. There were floodlights; there was a loudspeaker; there were water cannons at the ready. The police vans were literally lining the streets, nose to tail all around the Boxi. More of the anti-riot storm-trooper-looking types were regularly walking (not quite marching) around in ordered groups of twelve or so, or standing shoulder-to-shoulder blocking off streets they didn't want anyone else to shove their way into. We had to take a roundabout way to the guys' apartment, which another very large policeman in full anti-riot gear very politely explained.There was plenty of broken glass on the street and groups of people periodically yelling stuff. We didn't get into the thick of it, but stayed out on the fringes where punks and regular guys and police were just kind of milling around. According to the news today, the thick of it was relatively tame: about a thousand people were on the Boxi, and the police made 61 arrests in all, but it wasn't as bad as it's been in years past. Here's a photo from the newspaper taken by someone savvier with a camera than I am:So yeah, it was cool to be on the scene and see some of Berlin's rabble get roused. But don't worry, Mom, I finished out the night playing foosball and made it home safely to bed.Labels: Berlin life
