Around 150 Neo-Nazis tried to march through the mainly alternative district Kreuzberg in Berlin. The march was made official yesterday in the evening, as the police wanted to prevent a massive protest from left activists and migrants. The motto from the Neo-Nazi march was "Wahrheit macht frei" (The truth makes one free) - a slogan which reminds of the entrance slogan from the concentration camp Auschwitz and Dachau "Arbeit macht frei" (Work makes one free). The march was officially organized by the Politician Sebastian Schmidtke. He is a member of the Neo-Nazi party NPD (Nationalist Democratic Party). Several leading persons from the forbidden right wing group "Märkischer Heimatschutz" were also at the scene. The Neo-Nazis were mostly from the so called "Autonomous Nationalist" faction, a faction which copycats radical left symbols and clothings to attract young people from the mainstream society. But besides the short amount of time more than 600 people gathered at the starting point of the Nazi march to protest against them. Suddenly the Neo-Nazis moved down into the subway station "Mehringdamm" and attacked migrants as well as left protesters.
More than 30 people, mostly migrants, were injured at the subway; four of them had to be brought into hospital. For the attack the Neo-Nazis used forbidden steel rods. Three Neo-Nazis were arrested. The police lost the control as the Nazi activists tried to force their march outside the second exit of the subway station. But here several hundred people blocked the route. Bottles, fire crackers as well as vegetables where thrown from both sides, several people got injured. The riot police finally managed to surround the Neo-Nazis but were themselves surrounded by left protesters. The situation was very chaotic and every few minutes scuffle broke out. After less than an hour the riot police got backing and forced a way through the protesters for the Neo-Nazis towards the subway station again. For this the police used a massive amount of tear gas. Several additional people needed medical care afterwards. At this point the situation escalated again and the Neo-Nazis had to flee down the stairs as they where attacked from all sides. At the moment the situation is calm again, as the Neo-Nazis where brought with the subway into the outskirts of Berlin.
Demotix
