In the capital, a conflict between squatters and the police escalates: barricades are burning and a water cannon is on site.
Berlin – In the capital on Wednesday there were clashes between the police and residents of the occupied house “Rigaer 94” in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain. The background is the dispute over a planned fire protection test of the occupied house on Thursday (June 17th, 2021). The squatters assume that the action was not a “simple fire protection test”, but an attempt to evacuate. The competent administrative court has declared the examination admissible.
There are always clashes in front of the “Rigaer 94” building. After the Berlin police announced a no-stopping ban in Rigaer Strasse in the morning, the situation escalated. Barricades were piled up and set alight. Stones flew in the direction of the police. Around noon the police drove up with a water cannon.
Berlin: Burning barricades – police take action against it with water cannons
On Twitter, the officials complained that the police and fire brigade would not be allowed through. “Instead, they are attacked and pelted with stones, including from the roofs.” The water cannons were on site to put out the fire, it was said. There are now 200 officers on site: “And the trend is rising,” said the emergency services.
Due to a police operation, the area of the # Rigaer- and adjacent streets outlined here will be restricted to general use from noon today until Friday night. # B1606 | # b1706
^ tsm pic.twitter.com/q57q7h2LP9– Police Berlin (@polizeiberlin) June 16, 2021
“At this minute the street will be barricaded and an autonomous zone will be set up to prevent the Senate’s red zone. Come by quickly, ”wrote the squatters on Twitter.
Use of water cannons in Rigaer Strasse pic.twitter.com/JdsKqfEZrp
– Erik Peter (@retep_kire) June 16, 2021
The squatters have announced a demonstration in Berlin-Friedrichshain for Thursday evening. The “Rigaer 94” is one of the last symbols of the left-wing autonomous scene in the capital. (tu / dpa)
