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Police spokesman Thilo Cablitz groans. Half annoyed, half desperate. You can see that he is torn by this operation, then he goes to the gathered press, he punishes himself and says: “We are trying to maintain the greatest possible piety.” A police helicopter is circling above him, behind him are several hundred barricades and they control him. Access to the cemetery.
A funeral service is seldom a pleasant thing, but it is particularly sad in times of a pandemic because the funeral community must be minimized to protect itself against infection. But when, like Monday in Schöneberg, the Arab family known to the police, Remmo cries for his mother, it becomes a major operation.
Police were in action for hours with a helicopter, around 50 vehicles, and around 250 police officers. Even when the intensive criminal and clan member Nidal R. was buried in the same cemetery in September 2018, “only” 150 police officers were at the scene, with 2,000 mourners from across the republic, including numerous clan and underworld. Police wanted to avoid such a crowd on Monday.
Authorities had already begun to cordon off the area around the cemetery around 9 a.m. Sachsendamm and Dominicusstrasse were closed to motor traffic between the motorway exit and Schöneberger Hauptstrasse and, to the annoyance of many residents, several side streets. Only BVG buses were allowed through.
At that time, the mourning community was still ritually washing at the Sehitlik mosque in Neukölln. From there, he drove to Schöneberg, but for the more than 100 mourners, only to the customer parking of the Höffner furniture store, where the police had installed a roadblock and verified the entrance. Many cops with facial masks, most mourners without.
“It’s a tightrope walk”
“It is a tightrope walk,” said police spokesman Cablitz. “We want to make pain possible, but it’s also about minimizing the risk of infection.” The family had been contacted beforehand, pointed out the existing rules on distance and reunion, and presented the operational concept. The family then created a list of 60 people from the closest family circle. After verifying the personal data, these were sent to the cemetery in groups of 20 people. Only when one group had left the area, the next was allowed to the grave. “We would do it with any extended family,” Cablitz said.
The huge police presence may also be due to the criminal past of many family members. Numerous members of the Remmo family have been known to investigators and court officials in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Lebanon for many years. Some of the deceased’s children and grandchildren have attracted public attention and have repeatedly served prison terms.
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On Monday, however, the family wanted to remain among them and tried to avoid the reports. “The funeral is not part of contemporary history,” a family member wrote in advance by email to the editors. It is a private matter, the photos or videos published would have legal consequences. The deceased was not a public figure. “This also applies to the rest of the family.”
There were incidents even before the funeral.
The incidents occurred before the funeral. On Tuesday night, the woman who later died was treated at the Kreuzberg Urban Hospital. Despite the visit ban, more than 100 people gathered outside the clinic’s entrance. In Neukölln, two motorists ran from the patient’s home to the clinic and nearly ran over a police officer. On Thursday, numerous men had also gathered on the property of clan chief Issa Remmo in Alt-Buckow. Police officers recorded personal details of 47 people.
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“We have prepared well,” Berlin Police Chief Barbara Slowik told the interior committee on Monday: “It was a quiet and reserved environment.”
National politicians praise the commitment
Burkard Dregger, leader of the Berlin CDU faction, praises the large-scale deployment of the police: “With large Arab families, I prefer a little too much than a little too much. The only language they understand is the demonstration of power.” .
Greens interior expert Benedikt Lux also expressed approval for the mission: “With much effort, the police have managed to balance the pain and reduce the risk of infection.”
Around 2:00 p.m., the police again lifted the obstacles. The result of the operation: a man had spit on two journalists, two people tried to gain unauthorized access to the cemetery, otherwise there was a peaceful duel. Police spokesman Cablitz declined to comment on whether such a large operation was necessary. “Virologists should judge that.”
