Police officers and demonstrators clashed violently on Sunday at Berlin’s annual commemoration of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The event was marked by outbreaks of violence, culminating in more than 20 arrests and at least 10 investigations, reported Bild. Police deployed tear gas and defended themselves with pepper spray and batons, stated Bild. “There were attacks on police forces,” said a police spokesperson, who added that participants attacked emergency forces with flagpoles, reported Bild. The demonstration was stopped temporarily due to escalating conditions but ultimately did not split, stated Die Welt.
The protest, often called the LL or LLL demo, began at Frankfurter Tor in Berlin-Friedrichshain. Participants aimed to march to the memorial site of the socialists at the Städtischer Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde on Gudrunstraße, reported T-Online. Attendees were asked to refrain from shouting prohibited slogans, and organizers announced a ban on symbols of numerous Palestinian organizations, stated T-Online. Nevertheless, crowds gathered, and videos showed police pushing and shoving demonstrators, sometimes bringing individuals to the ground, wrote Die Welt. “The situation was very dynamic,” said a police spokesperson, noted Bild.
Thousands came to honor the 1919 murdered co-founders of the Communist Party of Germany, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, with many laying red carnations at the memorial, reported T-Online. Among those laying flowers were Left Party members and Berlin Left party chairpersons Franziska Brychcy and Maximilian Schirme, reported T-Online. Eventually, the march reached the memorial of the Socialists in Berlin-Friedrichsfelde, where it ended around 2 pm, noted Die Welt. However, assaults by the police continued even after the commemoration ended, wrote redglobe.de.
One person was briefly unconscious and taken to a hospital, while at least one was seriously injured and had to be revived, though conflicting claims emerged about the severity, reported Die Welt. A fire department spokesperson said three lightly injured persons were taken to the hospital, stated Die Welt, but the Berlin fire department indicated there were no serious injuries, also reported Die Welt. Confusion surrounded the arrest of an individual with an open warrant, said Die Welt.
Controversy also arose at last year’s event, with 21 police officers injured and 16 demonstrators arrested, stated Die Welt. Another claim indicated that demonstrators attacked police with wooden planks and metal rods at that time.
In early January 1919, a revolutionary committee under Liebknecht declared the government of Friedrich Ebert deposed, and the Spartacist uprising was suppressed. A few days later, Liebknecht and Luxemburg were arrested by a citizen militia on January 15, 1919. They were abducted, interrogated, and shot. Luxemburg’s body was thrown into the Landwehr Canal and not found until late May 1919.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
