Berlin expecting a spike in public violence from 1 May

On the Internet, in videos, black-clad followers are encouraged to start fires, smear facades, smash house lights with hammers and knock surveillance cameras out of their anchorages. At the end of such a three-minute destruction video, flames hit a building.

Left-wing extremists are clearly getting into the mood for the “Chaostage” [Days of chaos] in Berlin from 10 to 13 May. “Always aim at head height with the intent to kill,” followers are told when stoning police officers.

The unabashed murder call on the video shows the brutality, cowardice and destruction of the left-wing extremists and how they have terrorized the city with their attacks for years. But it is also a declaration of war: what the capital can expect in the next few weeks.

The Kadterschmiede is to be evacuated on 14 May. It is a left-wing pub in Riga road without a commercial license and no lease, as the Berliner Zeitung in September 2017 reported. At the meeting point of the left-wing extremists, calls for public violence are being advertised.

Police authorities have let the planned May rally again take place without registration, but they will be forced to intervene when mass icons of banned organisations are shown. The organisers are therefore specifically trying to provoke riots with the police, by calling for flags of the Kurdish workers’ party PKK, which is banned in Germany, the Berliner Morgenpost learned from official circles.

In addition, there are calls from leftist radical groups to disturb a Görlitzer Park festival, planned by the district office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.

Security authorities have obtained hard evidence that leftist radicals from other European countries want to travel to Berlin to take part. The May 1 rallies in Hamburg are being avoided by left-wing extremists because of investigations into the G20 riots of last year.

On Tuesday, a group on the portal “Indymedia” boasted about two arson attacks in Berlin-Lichtenberg. According to police, a Mercedes van and a similar model had been torched in the night of Tuesday. In their claim letter, the alleged perpetrators also referred to the 1st of May.

The “crime-prone place” on Rigaer road has since March 20 seen an increased police presence due to several cases of violence and property damage, police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf told German weekly JungeFreiheit.

Residents of an occupied house on Rigaer have announced retaliation for the alleged “siege” by the police. The officers took the threats seriously, added Neuendorf. Police presence is perceived by the left-wing extremist scene as “basically a provocation”.

In recent weeks, there have been multiple attacks against the police in Berlin.