Demonstrations in Hamburg on December 21, 2013

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Demonstration on December 21, 2013

On December 21, 2013, a demonstration took place in Hamburg for the preservation of the occupied Rote Flora cultural center , for a right of residence for refugees , against racism and gentrification , especially in the case of the Esso houses . Shortly after the demonstration began, violent clashes broke out between demonstrators and the police, in which numerous people were injured. In the aftermath, several spontaneous demonstrations formed in the Hamburg city area.

Background and purpose

The Rote Flora has been occupied since 1989 and is actively operated as an autonomous center . In October 2013, the owner Klausmartin Kretschmer applied for the “private use” of the building, which, however, was now designated as a cultural center in the development plan . Since then, national and international participation in the demonstration has also been called for.

The demonstrators also rejected the plans to demolish the endangered Esso houses and a feared gentrification of the Hamburg district of St. Pauli , demanded a “ right to the city ” and criticized the Bavarian house building .

On December 21, 2013, the Lampedusa refugee initiative demonstrated in Hamburg with the participation of refugees against racism , for freedom of movement for asylum seekers within the German borders, which is restricted by the residence obligation, and for a right to stay for all people. The subsequent large-scale demonstration in the Schanzenviertel also demanded a right of residence for refugees.

Police requirements

A few days before the registered demonstration, the assembly authority of the Hamburg police issued an order not to hold it in the city center. Appeals to the Hamburg Administrative Court and the Hamburg Higher Administrative Court were unsuccessful. In addition, the police declared the downtown for the period from 14: 00-23: 00 for danger area , which it has been allowed without suspicion searches and arrests carried out and sending off to pronounce.

During the opening rally, the police informed the chairman of another route change: The demonstration should not take the Reeperbahn as planned . This was justified by the fact that the evening before, around 300 masked people attacked the Davidwache on Hamburg's Reeperbahn, pelted parked police cars with stones and damaged seven patrol cars. The police leadership feared that they would not be able to protect their guard during the demonstration. Therefore, the route past the police station was prohibited and should lead directly from Budapester Straße into Glacischaussee.

Riot police
water cannon
Barricade in Schanzenstrasse

course

Rally of the refugee initiative Lampedusa in Hamburg

The Lampedusa refugee initiative in Hamburg held a rally on the Steindamm on the morning of December 21 from 12 noon , in which around 900 people took part. The rally was carried and organized by refugees fighting for their right to stay. The group originally planned a demonstration in downtown Hamburg, just like on the previous Advent weekends. A few days earlier, however, the group called off feared attempts to link them to violence, as well as police violence at previous demonstrations and feared provocations, and instead mobilized to the rally.

Dissolved demonstration in front of the Rote Flora in the afternoon

From around 1.30 p.m., according to the police, around 7,300, and according to the organizers, over 10,000 people gathered for the demonstration under the motto “The city belongs to everyone! Refugees, Esso houses and Rote Flora remain “ on the shoulder blade . After various speeches on the situation of the Lampedusa refugees and the evacuation threats against the center, the demonstration march started shortly after 3 p.m. on the approved route, but was stopped by the police after a few meters and after half an hour of violent clashes between Protesters and police eventually disbanded.

The head of the march consisted of a hooded black block . From the point of view of the police, he started a few minutes too early on the registered demonstration route. At this point in time, the operations management had not yet considered whether they should even start the demonstration because of the violation of the ban on masking. At the same time, the necessary traffic closures had not yet been completed. "All this together then" led to the demonstration march being stopped by police forces who had previously been on the demonstration route. Immediately afterwards, "a very massive throw with objects of all kinds" began. Since the leader of the meeting "had absolutely no way of influencing those who wanted to use violence there", the leader of the operation finally broke up the demonstration at 3:28 pm. Lawyers for the Rote Flora and some media expressed the assumption that the situation was "provoked by the police, obviously in order to prevent any elevator from the start." In the first representations of the police, the chronological order between the stopping of the demonstration and the start of the The police officers' throws remained unclear. Many press reports had therefore given the impression that the stopping of the demonstration was a reaction to the thumping of the police forces.

In the course of the clashes, the police used batons , water cannons and pepper spray . All side streets to the shoulder blade were cordoned off by police units and a police cauldron was built in which several thousand people were. On Juliusstrasse, hundreds of people had got into another narrower and smaller police pocket. Some demonstrators tried to get out of the boiler via scaffolding onto the roofs of houses. Many demonstrators then moved towards downtown Hamburg. Several spontaneous registrations of further gatherings after the dissolution of the demonstration were prohibited by the police chief.

According to the police, 1,650 police officers were deployed on the elevator itself and in the subsequent clashes on the shoulder blade bridge.

Unannounced, spontaneous demonstrations in the city area in the evening

This was followed by unannounced, spontaneous demonstrations in large parts of the Hamburg city area. These resulted in property damage, the building of barricades and confrontations between demonstrators and the police. The Santa Pauli Christmas market had to be closed for security reasons. In the early evening there was a spontaneous rally at the Esso houses, in which around 700-1000 demonstrators took part. At around 6.30 p.m. there was a short, unannounced rally on the Gänsemarkt (within the danger area), which was broken up by several hundred police officers. As a result, there was considerable damage to property in the city center, including damage to the windows of an SPD office. Around 9 p.m., another 1,000 people gathered in the Eimsbüttel district. Among other things, the windows of the Eimsbüttel district office were thrown in. The villas of several company bosses were also damaged. In a letter of confession, the perpetrators declared that they had "shut down" the Elbchaussee with barricades and attacked the houses with paint and stones, as the owners were "responsible for oppression and exploitation". According to a report by the Berliner Kurier , a stone thrown in the process only missed the head of an interviewee by a few centimeters.

Balance sheet

The police leadership regards their mission as successful: "The tactical goal of the police, namely to prevent an uncontrollable number of people willing to use violence from reaching the inner city and thus triggering very considerable dangers", has been achieved.

The police estimated that around 4,700 of the demonstrators were "violent".

A total of 3,274 officers were involved in the operation, 1,770 of them from the federal states of Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Bremen and the federal police. Additional forces were spontaneously requested from Schleswig-Holstein during the day. The insert even that was Support Command involved.

According to the police, the Hamburg fire brigade drove a total of 116 missions in this context and was on duty with 67 officers.

According to the police, 169 police officers were injured, 18 of whom should have been treated in hospital. 61 vehicles of the Hamburg police were damaged, 19 of which are no longer ready to drive. The property damage is estimated at 160,000 euros. The damage to foreign police forces is not yet known. The police estimate the cost of the operation at 1.13 million euros. The Hamburg chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG), Joachim Lenders , stated that officers from an evidence preservation and arrest unit had drawn their service weapons to keep attackers in check. According to left-wing organizations, 500 people were injured on the part of the demonstrators, 20 of whom were seriously injured. The police stressed, however, that there were only two injured demonstrators and only four reports against the police. There were 66 rescue missions by the fire brigade in the emergency room, although it was unclear how many of them were unrelated to the demonstrations.

Police detained 20 people provisionally fixed and 320 people in temporary custody . The arrested were initially accused of breaching the peace . With the exception of one person, those arrested were released in the course of the following days as there were no grounds for detention .

Reception in public and politics

Even in the run-up to the demonstration, the police said there was a high potential of violent demonstrators and gave them 3,000. The deputy state chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG) Hessen, Björn Werminghaus, described the demonstrators on Twitter as "violent scum". This was sharply criticized there. Rainer Wendt , chairman of the DPolG, ruled out any consequences for his colleague, as they were not demonstrators, but violent criminals. The Green Party requested a special meeting of the Interior Committee because of the events and criticized the fact that peaceful demonstrators were prevented from demonstrating. The domestic political spokeswoman for Die Linke said she had the impression that it was political intent not to allow the demonstration to take place. A video appeared on the video platform Youtube in which a police chief of operations declared the Basic Law to be "done". The lawyers at the cultural center also blamed the police for the escalation. The police's actions were also criticized by journalists. So be in the Budapesterstrasse a dpa been -Reporterin who have shown themselves, pushed by the police. Another journalist received a slap in the face. According to the police, the journalists' work was not deliberately hindered. In unmanageable situations, the emergency services could not always immediately distinguish between interferers and bystanders. The Hanseatic city has experienced the worst riots in years - "with brutality in a new, terrifying dimension". The willingness to use violence was so great that even the Evidence Preservation and Arrest Units (BFE) got into trouble. The federal working group of critical police officers spoke of a "police-political disaster".

The CDU parliamentary group recognized in the course of the events civil war-like attacks by violent leftists on the police and the city as well as an abuse of the right to demonstrate. Kai Voet van Vormizeele described the Rote Flora overall as a place from which targeted violence emanates. Other CDU politicians called for the use of rubber bullets and the withdrawal of driving licenses for “stone throwers” ​​or for more difficult access to high school diplomas and university degrees. The green politician Christian Trede compared the violent demonstrators with “marauding SA hordes”, but withdrew the comparison a few days later. In the days after the demonstration, voices from journalists and politicians increased who declared the police and interior senator's version to be false. So one read on the website of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk : “Nothing can be seen of the alleged litters from the group of people. The violence only escalates after the protest march has stopped. ”A commentator for the news channel n-tv wrote:“ The Black Block is attacking police officers who then have to intervene massively. The demonstration must be broken up so as not to endanger security in the city. The only problem is: it's not true. ”Hanning Voigts from the Frankfurter Rundschau said:“ The demonstration ends before it has really started. When the tip of the elevator has covered almost 20 meters, police officers sprint forward at around 3:10 p.m., some of them still putting on their helmets while they are running. The officers stop the march, push the first rows back and immediately use batons. Then the situation escalates. " Birgit Rydlewski , a member of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia who took part in the demonstration, wrote on her blog:" At the beginning of the demo around 3 p.m. we stood at the side of the first demo block because we were behind it wanted to join. When the demo started, it took less than five minutes for the first escalation. The demo only came about 20 meters before the police forcefully stopped it. To the best of my knowledge and the videos, for no apparent reason. No objects were flying at the time. Not even from the bridge. ”According to the taz , which, according to its own statements, had received information from an insider from the police center in Alsterdorf , the police leadership“ consciously accepted collateral damage from riots ”.

At a special meeting of the Hamburg Interior Committee on January 6, 2014, Interior Senator Michael Neumann (SPD) defended the police's actions. On December 21, 2013, “disdainful criminals” gathered in Hamburg who had targeted violence from the start. In Hamburg there is "actually no concrete political problem." Wolfgang Bosbach (CDU) commented in the Frankfurter Rundschau that he felt reminded of "events that we only know from the time of the RAF ".

Jürgen Schwabe , Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, speaks of the incomprehensible indolence of the state in recent years. Law enforcement agencies have largely remained inactive in the preparation and formation of insurmountable physical barriers, violence and attacks on the police. It is therefore not surprising, "if a legal awareness, the most important prerequisite for legal obedience, does not develop." He protests against the claim: "Escalation of violence on both sides", since in the vast majority of cases there are clear violations of the law so-called defenders of the "Red Flora" acted.

Further developments

In Göttingen, probably on the evening of December 21, explosives were deposited on the premises of the Göttingen Federal Police , at the administrative court and at the main customs office . A few days later, a group of flora and fauna claimed responsibility for the attack on the Indymedia Internet platform . They saw in these a "reaction to violent attacks on the part of the cops on the demo" and see them as "practical solidarity [...] against the racist establishment". The gas cartridges built into the explosives did not ignite.

One day after the demonstration, 400 people again gathered in front of the Rote Flora in the evening. In Kiel, bags of paint and stones flew onto an office of the police union and an office of the federal police. On the German platform of Indymedia , strangers announced further acts of violence in connection with the violent clashes around the Rote Flora. The head of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , Manfred Murck , spoke of a "cynical approach to military ways of thinking".

On January 3, 2014, the Hamburg police set up a controversially discussed danger area for the districts of Altona-Altstadt , St. Pauli and Sternschanze as well as parts of Altona-Nord . This was justified with multiple attacks on police officers and police facilities and the resulting, in some cases, considerable personal injury and property damage. On January 9, 2014, the danger area was reduced to three "danger islands", on which police stations 15, 16 and 21 are located, and finally abolished on January 13.

On January 6, 2014, the Hamburger Abendblatt reported on one of the state security papers leaked to the newspaper . In it, he reported that the unusually long wave of protests and the "so far completely lacking consequences" gave left-wing extremists the feeling that they were successful. In the coming weeks, further attacks on police stations and police vehicles, as well as the houses of politicians, are to be expected.

On February 10, 2014, the chairman of the Hamburg Police Association , Dirk Reimers , presented the officers who were injured on December 21, 2013 with donations "as a sign of solidarity".

Web links

Commons : Demonstrations in Hamburg (December 21, 2013)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Nationwide demo December 21st. Flora remains incompatible, accessed on December 23, 2013 .
  2. ^ Large demonstration for the preservation of the "Red Flora". Serious riots in Hamburg - dozens injured. Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 21, 2013, accessed on December 25, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Riots and injuries. Serious riots during the demonstration for "Rote Flora" in Hamburg. Tagesspiegel , December 21, 2013, accessed January 4, 2013 .
  4. ^ Hamburg police: demonstrations in Hamburg. Police press office Hamburg, December 22, 2013, accessed on May 4, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Kai von Appen: Demo for the Rote Flora. City remains a taboo zone. Die Tageszeitung , December 21, 2013, accessed on December 23, 2013 .
  6. ^ Protests for the “Rote Flora” cultural center. Police declare downtown Hamburg a danger area. Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 21, 2013, accessed on December 23, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 9
  8. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg: Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 9
  9. ^ Zeit Online, December 21, 2013: Rote Flora demonstration ends in riots
  10. ↑ Demonstration escalates. Criticism of rioters, politics and police after riots. Hamburger Abendblatt , December 21, 2013, accessed on December 25, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Statement on current issues regarding our politics - discussion about violence. Lampedusa in Hamburg , December 18, 2013, archived from the original on May 20, 2014 ; Retrieved December 25, 2013 .
  12. ^ A b Jörg Diehl, Jens Witte: Riots in Hamburg. Police union regrets scum tweet. Spiegel Online , December 23, 2013, accessed December 25, 2013 .
  13. ^ Large demonstration for the preservation of the "Red Flora". Serious riots in Hamburg - dozens injured. Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 21, 2013, accessed on December 25, 2013 .
  14. ↑ POL-HH: 131222-1. Demonstrations in Hamburg . In: presseportal.de of December 22, 2013
  15. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 10f
  16. ↑ a b Rote Flora lawyers criticize the police ( memento from December 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) in: ndr.de from December 23, 2013
  17. ^ Coup on the shoulder blade taz.de of December 29, 2013
  18. ↑ Flora-Bleibt-Demo: One day in December in: hh-mittendrin.de from December 22, 2013
  19. ↑ POL-HH: 131222-1. Demonstrations in Hamburg in: presseportal.de from December 22, 2013
  20. ↑ "There is anger aroused by the police, which then sometimes discharges" deutschlandfunk.de of 23 December 2013
  21. ↑ Escalation in Schanze publikative.org from December 21, 2013
  22. ↑ Numerous injuries in: taz.de from December 22, 2013
  23. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 11
  24. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 12
  25. ↑ Assault on luxury hotels - after the battle of the hill, four luxury hostels are attacked and the Esso houses are occupied by mopo.de on December 22, 2013
  26. ^ A b Criticism of rioters, politics and the police after riots, Abendblatt.de of December 21, 2013
  27. ↑ Hills demonstration in Live Scores radiohamburg.de from December 21, 2013
  28. ↑ 'Against the Putinization of Hamburg's politics!' ,Rechtaufstadt.net of December 23, 2013 ( Memento of December 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  29. ↑ mopo.de, December 21, 2013: Live ticker: Hamburg: All information about the large demo
  30. ↑ 'From our point of view: Statement', sos-stpauli.de of December 23, 2013
  31. ^ "Rote Flora" demo escalated - 120 police officers injured in serious riots in Hamburg welt.de on December 22, 2014
  32. ↑ POL-HH: 131222-1. Demonstrations in Hamburg . In: presseportal.de of December 22, 2013
  33. ^ After the riot demo: Attack on star architects Hamburger Morgenpost on December 27, 2013
  34. ^ Attack on the mansions of company bosses taz.de on December 29, 2013
  35. ↑ a b Attack on villa and family berliner-kurier.de on January 3, 2014
  36. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 13
  37. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 12
  38. ↑ How a police officer prepares for a mission . In: Abendblatt.de of December 21, 2013
  39. ↑ POL-HH: 131222-1. Demonstrations in Hamburg . In: presseportal.de of December 22, 2013
  40. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 12
  41. ↑ POL-HH: 131222-1. Demonstrations in Hamburg
  42. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 12f
  43. ^ The impotence of the state rp-online.de of December 23, 2013
  44. ↑ Hundreds of people injured during the Rote Flora demo ( memento from December 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), ndr.de, December 23, 2013
  45. ^ Riot and "danger area" - Senator takes the police in protection . In: Die Welt from January 6, 2014
  46. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 12
  47. ↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : Minutes of the public meeting of the Interior Committee on January 6, 2014. No. 20/25, p. 13
  48. ↑ Exclusion zone in Hamburg - after demonstrations, the police conduct identity checks by technobase.fm on January 3, 2014
  49. ↑ Solidarity rally at the Holstenglacis prison ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Abendblatt.de from January 4, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.abendblatt.de
  50. ^ Preventive measure Police declare danger area for St Pauli hh-mittendrin.de from January 3, 2014
  51. ↑ Fear of riot demos: The Hamburg city center is officially a danger area today in: mopo.de from December 21, 2013
  52. ↑ Serious riots at the demo: Greens criticize the police operation in Hamburg in: spiegel.de from December 22, 2013
  53. ↑ Twitter police union calls Hamburg demonstrators scrap in: spiegel.de from December 23, 2013
  54. ↑ “Scrap” instead of demonstrators in: taz.de of December 23, 2013
  55. ↑ Serious riots at the demo: Greens criticize the police operation in Hamburg in: spiegel.de from December 22, 2013
  56. ↑ baton and irritant gas in: jungewelt.de of December 23, 2013
  57. ↑ Statement on the demo from December 21st. in: avanti-projekt.de
  58. ↑ Rote Flora lawyers criticize the police ( memento from December 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) in: ndr.de from December 23, 2013
  59. ^ The riots are followed by the verbal battles in: sueddeutsche.de of December 23, 2013
  60. ↑ Coup on the shoulder blade in: taz.de of December 29, 2013
  61. ↑ Serious riots at the demo: Greens criticize the police operation in Hamburg in: spiegel.de from December 22, 2013
  62. ^ The powerlessness of the state in: rp online from December 23, 2013
  63. ↑ Number 4: On Hamburg's domestic policy, since March 2011 ( memento from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) in: kritische-polizisten.de from January 5, 2014
  64. ↑ CDU press release : Reassess the situation of the Rote Flora in: cdu-hamburg.de
  65. ↑ Rubber bullets and driving license revocation instead of solving social problems in: heise.de from December 24, 2013
  66. ↑ The Battle of the Schanze in: mopo.de of December 22, 2013
  67. ^ Autonomous like Hitler's henchmen in: taz.de of December 26, 2013
  68. ↑ Did the police stop the demonstration too early? ( Memento from December 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) in: ndr.de from December 22, 2013
  69. ↑ What is not said in: n-tv.de from December 23, 2013
  70. ↑ Rote Flora Hamburg: Street battle in the Schanzenviertel in: fr-online.de of December 22, 2013
  71. ↑ That's what Democracy looks like? in: birgit-rydlewski.de
  72. ↑ Coup on the shoulder blade in: taz.de from December 27, 2013
  73. ^ Neumann defends Hamburg police tactics ( memento from January 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). In: ndr.de from January 6, 2014
  74. ^ "There is no political problem in Hamburg" . In: fr-online.de from January 7, 2014
  75. ↑ Bosbach uses the RAF comparison in: fr-online.de of January 8, 2014
  76. ↑ Martina Goy: Expert discussion: "Years of tolerance generate false legal awareness". In: welt.de . January 26, 2014, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  77. ↑ Gö solidarity has to become practical! At all levels! By all means! ( Memento of January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Indymedia December 23, 2013
  78. ↑ Jürgen Gückel: Three explosive devices and a letter of confession in Göttingen , Göttinger Tageblatt , December 30, 2013
  79. ↑ Rote Flora lawyers criticize the police ( memento from December 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) in: ndr.de from December 23, 2013
  80. ↑ Paint bag attacks in Kiel ( Memento from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). NDR 1 Welle Nord, December 23, 2013
  81. ↑ Thomas Hirschbiegel and Marius Röer: Autonomous people threaten new violence. In: Hamburger Morgenpost . January 2, 2014, accessed January 15, 2014 .
  82. ↑ Stefan Schölermann: Fight against police officers: Call for violence in the network. NDR.de , January 12, 2014, archived from the original on January 15, 2014 ; accessed on January 15, 2014 .
  83. ↑ Danger area is reduced . In: Abendblatt.de from January 10, 2014
  84. ↑ POL-HH: 140109-3. Establishment of the danger area successful - reorganization to the areas Hamburg-St. Pauli, Altona-Nord and Sternschanze . In: presseportal.de from January 9, 2014
  85. ↑ Danger area lifted: Hamburg safe again , the daily newspaper , January 13, 2014
  86. ↑ http://mobil.abendblatt.de/politik/deutschland/article123559717/Polizei-warnt-vor-weiteren-Anschlaegen-in-Hamburg.html?cid= ( Memento from January 12, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )
  87. ↑ Comment: That stands for itself hh-mittendrin.de from February 10, 2014