For weeks, activists had been preparing for protests against a right-wing extremist march that was to start at Ostkreuz and march through the “left-wing neighborhood” Friedrichshain. The route had already been changed days before the date of the march, so that eventually it was to head to Lichtenberg station via Gürtelstraße and Frankfurter Allee.
The failed neo-Nazi march
The call by individuals from the AfD party and Junge Alternative (JA), who present themselves on social media as “Aktionsbündnis Berlin”, met with little response from the established far-right structures in Berlin in the run-up to the event. However, some protagonists who identify with the new far-right label “Deutsche Jugend voran” (DJV), took part in the march. After the march in Marzahn in October (Aufmarsch in Marzahn im Oktober, article in German), it was the second time in a short span of time that these neo-Nazis, some of whom are very young, appeared in a martial manner and most of them wearing masks. They chanted right-wing extremist slogans and threatened local residents, many of whom spontaneously positioned themselves with banners on balconies and on their windows.
On the journey to Friedrichshain, some of these young neo-Nazis, in this case from Saxony-Anhalt, allegedly brutally attacked SPD election campaigners in Lichterfelde (rbb24-article in German) and injured three people, including two police officers who had intervened. Once again, it became clear that the new “neo-Nazi youth culture” associated with the DJV and “Jung und Stark” (JS) labels also represents a significant challenge in Berlin and, in many cases, a serious threat to democratic civil society and anti-fascist activists. The Berlin Register recently published an information leaflet (Informationsflyer) that summarizes the new development well.
Instead of the 500 registered participants, only just over 50 neo-Nazis actually took part in the march on Saturday. The march had to be called off at less than half of the planned route after more than 1,000 people protested at the corner of Möllendorffstrasse and Frankfurter Allee, directly on the route. The neo-Nazis thus stopped were escorted into the subway and traveled to Lichtenberg, the end point of the planned route.
The successful counter-protests
Several thousand people took part in a total of 13 registered gatherings to take a stance against the neo-Nazi march. More than 2,000 of them joined the alliance demonstration organized by Queermany Berlin and further initiatives. The protest march, which also included the sister demonstration (Zubringer-Demo aus Kreuzberg ) from Kreuzberg organized by Wrangelkiez United, Bizim Kiez and our partners from FSV Hansa 07 as well as a bike feeder demonstration coming from Friedrichshain’s Südkiez, started loud and colorful in front of about blank club. The demonstration continued to the corner of Boxhagener Str./Neue Bahnhofstr., where it was stopped by the police. The participants remained loud and made their protest clearly audible to the neo-Nazis who passed by late.
In the southern part of the district, counter-protests by the initiative “Geradedenken“ and a dance demo under the slogan “Bumm Bumm statt blau-braun” (Boom boom instead of blue-brown) used sound systems to keep the neo-Nazis entertained for around two hours before the right-wing extremist march could get underway. At the corner of Möllendorffstr./Frankfurter Allee, a further counter-protest group was already waiting in the form of a rally organized by Omas gegen Rechts. The fact that many people spontaneously took to protest directly on the registered route at this intersection ultimately ensured that the neo-Nazis were unable to continue their march to Lichtenberg station as planned.
Further counter-protests, for example by the alliance “Bündnis für Demokratie und Toleranz Treptow-Köpenick“ on Elsenbrücke and rallies at Nöldnerplatz and Lichtenberger Brücke, made sure potential alternative routes for the neo-Nazis were blocked, and counter-protestors were prepared to take a loud stance against the right-wing extremist march on the planned route. However, the organizers of the neo-Nazi march announced their intention to march in Berlin again next year. Once again, many Berliners will show that they will not leave the streets to the neo-Nazis!
Photos: Berlin gegen Nazis