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Friday, October 9, 2020
The eviction of the symbolic house project “Liebig 34” in Berlin-Friedrichshain was completed. The police enter the building and remove dozens of people. The protest remains largely peaceful. In the immediate vicinity, however, officers are sometimes massively attacked.
It took a few hours, but in the end the evacuation of the occupied house “Liebig 34” in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain passed without major incident. At noon, the police announced that the building was secured. A total of 2,500 police officers were on duty, some with heavy equipment. There were also evacuation vehicles. According to the police, 1,500 protesters were at the scene. Even after the evacuation, which began at 7:00 am sharp, around 500 of them remained in front of the house and protested with chants and slogans.
The officials had entered the house with a crowbar and a chainsaw that morning. More policemen entered the house through a window on the first floor. Little by little about 60 people, mostly women, were removed from the building. Protesters often greeted them loudly and with applause. Few resisted.
However, according to a spokesman, the emergency services encountered obstacles at the corner house north of the former great mile of the GDR with its so-called Stalin buildings. Doors and windows were broken with tools, the installed beams were removed and the metal was opened. A police spokesman could not initially say if there were any arrests. However, the personal data of several participants had been verified.
Wall debris and heavy concrete elements had also been piled up and the stairway blocked. The cops searched the building floor by floor. Emergency forces were in position on the surrounding rooftops. Then a building surveyor took a close look at the entire building. Then it must be turned over to the bailiff.
Attacks on officials
Early in the morning, the police announced that objects had been brought onto the road near the house. Police said officials deployed to surrounding streets had been massively attacked in some cases. Bottles were also thrown at the police officers. “At first it doesn’t seem like you want to hand over the property voluntarily,” police tweeted. Several car tires, garbage containers and automobiles were burned in the urban area. The police used water cannons to help firefighters extinguish the fire.
“Liebig 34” was one of the last symbolic projects of the radical left scene in the capital. A ten-year commercial lease expired two years ago. The landlord finally enforced the eviction.
An evacuation vehicle backed up to the front door.
(Photo: REUTERS)
Neighbors’ supporters had called for action before the evacuation: “Let’s create chaos, let’s be visible and prevent the evacuation of Liebig 34,” it said on the home’s website. In recent days there have been a number of arson attacks and other destructions, for example on the S-Bahn in Berlin.
Hundreds of protesters had gathered nearby the night before. You were standing in front of a small concert stage on Rigaer Strasse. A hip-hop band performed and the atmosphere was calm. In the brightly painted house “Liebig 34” some of the windows were illuminated. Music and a woman’s speeches echoed through the intersection of the speakers. But behind the bars of the next cordon there were only a few people listening.
Police had already started blocking the neighborhood days ago. Two streets were completely blocked in sections. Dozens of residents were asked to move their cars. The closings want to continue through the weekend. Since the weekend there have been spontaneous protests and concerts, some of which lasted for hours. A nursing home and a nursing home are only a few meters from the house, which has now been vacated. A primary school and a nursery were closed on the day of the operation.
Since that night the police had massively increased their presence. Emergency vehicles were packed into the streets around the scene. In addition to the Berlin police officers, officers from Bavaria and Hamburg, among others, were on duty.
