NEO-NAZI MARCH STOPPED AFTER FEW METERS IN BERLIN

“METERES”? Uh, a meter is just over three feet, so it you couldn”‘t get 110 Nazis to march past a few meters, something serious popped off. Well, that’s what happened in Berlin on Saturday after a counter-rally of 600 organized by the local Green Party confronted those same boneheads as they tried to rally in a community of Turkish immigrants. When things didn’t go as well as the boneheads hoped, they attacked innocents, injuring a number of them. We are trying to learn more about the fun and excitement, and we will make sure it ends up here as soon as we do!

Demotix

According to the police, at least 110 Neo-Nazis met at the Mehringdamm U-Bahn station in western Kreuzberg – a district traditionally inhabited by people of Turkish descent, though now a trendy tourist-haven and increasingly sought-after area code. The neo-Nazis had gathered under the banner “Truth will set you free”, and had intended to march around a kilometre south into the Tempelhof area. The police say around 350 people arrived to stop the demonstration. One eye-witness said, “What I saw happen was 150 neo-Nazis prevented from marching by at least three times as many protesters on the anti-side, to the point where the neo-Nazis not only couldn’t march, but had to be escorted by police into the U-bahn, for their safety.” Fights broke out, with several fireworks being set off, and several people were injured, including seven police officers. There were also a handful of arrests.

The neo-Nazis were driven back into the U-Bahn station, where they reportedly attacked passengers. A police spokesman declared the demonstration – which had been registered by an individual, rather than an organization – over at 1pm. Following that, several fights broke out between smaller groups until the neo-Nazi demonstrators were finally isolated and escorted away by police. The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Green Party said the demonstration had been successfully stopped by the anti-Nazi protesters, and criticized the police for only making the plans of the demonstration public on Friday. “It’s a political scandal when the Berlin police holds back information about a Nazi march,” said Katrin Schmidberger, of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Green party, adding that not even the district’s Green party mayor had been informed. She also condemned the police’s use of pepper spray against peaceful demonstrators.