On the 15th of May, a demonstration organized by Köpi and Rigaer94 will take place in their own defence and in solidarity with the many threatened or yet evicted places. Potse, another youth space, has received an eviction title for the 19th of May after two years of squatting. They are supposed to be kicked out to give space for another one of those smart and posh facilities that destroy cities, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
On the 11th of March it looked like the police would take over Rigaer94. Around 2.000 Cops from all over Germany were ready to invade the Northern District of Friedrichshain and other potential areas of unrest. This was in order to be able to break the doors of 94 and to give access to a so called house management which was only officially recognized shortly before this day by the ruling of a court. Lacking fire security and immediate danger to the people living in and around Rigaer94, was the lie made up to gather the army of cops that lay waiting to take action. But the plan of entering every corner of the common spaces and private rooms, to find reasons of public safety to evict the whole building, could be stopped.
Only two days before the launch of the attack, the counter strategy of the Rigaer94 to use an official expert for fire-security, was able to publicly dismantle the states line of argumentation and intervene in the legal procedure. The cancellation of the announced martial operation led to turbulence in the mass media and in the lines of the ruling parties. Not least because of the loss of 500.000 Euros spent for cops and other material that was booked to travel to and stay in Berlin.The court ruling in the fire-security case, recognizing the owner, marks a turning point for the states war against the rebellious structures of Rigaer94.
Until then, the senate had been waiting, according to it‘s official doctrine of „legal security“, for a mistake by the rebellious structures, a cheap opportunity to raid or to use violence or other means of repression against visitors and inhabitants. Now, after the latest verdict, the landlord is legally able to deal with his house and the senate feels that the time has come to finally get rid of what they used to call an autonomous stronghold.
Shortly after the failing fire-security expedition of the state troops, a new court appointment was announced. This time the reason was another one: once again the landlord’s lawyer tried to get an eviction warrant against the squatted rooms in the ground floor of Rigaer94. These are the collective and social space Kadterschmiede and the Keimzelle, which is an autonomous youth location. Since 2016, this lawyer lost several times due to crucial missing documents from the landlord, which is in fact a Mailbox Company in UK.
So, on 26th of April, the new decision to evict a part of Rigaer94 was supposed to take place. Even before this, the court had announced that it would follow the other court decision to accept the Lawyer as a representative of the Mailbox Company. This was understood as a clear sign that the eviction title would be given to the landlord. Only a few days before the trial, an appeal by the lawyers of Rigaer94 on the grounds of bias, led to a postponement of the court appointment and thus to another postponement of the large scale escalation in Berlin.This time until the announcement of the new date or another try to use the fire-security as a pretext to attack (which according to the latest news might take place on 17-18 of June) is used by the Rigaer94 and other projects to continue mobilizing for actions.
The general situation in Berlin is commonly understood as a final general attack on the remaining establishments of the antagonist struggle that used to be present in the whole city of Berlin. For more than two years now, a union of some of the involved projects is coordinating actions and demonstrations in order to strike back. In the case of any eviction, it can be expected that centralized and decentralized actions will take place.
It’s the most important weapon in the hands of those who are under attack and at least there is hope that the state of emergency will unite more people than before on the streets, with the perspective of a broader insurrection.
Everybody is welcome to join the struggle. In fact, everbody is needed!
Køpi calls for friends and allies from around the world to meet in Berlin on the 15th and 16th of May for a weekend of protest. As Køpiplatz (trailer park) faces the most serious eviction threat to date, Køpi stands united to fight for our homes and family.
Køpi has been a DIY project in the heart of Berlin offering living space for people in the house and trailer park for more than 30 
years. It also continues to be a home for collectives, events, and creative energy since the day the first door was broken open. We will not give up our way of life for some state backed developers! When the law wants to take our homes away, it’s time to break the law!
The alleged owner of Køpi, Startezia GmbH, is just another example of how our homes and autonomous communities are destroyed by anonymous postbox companies that care only about profit and not about people.
Køpiplatz does not face the threat of eviction alone: Rigaer94, who is also in immediate danger, calls for a protest weekend. After the failed attempt to get the house under control with the excuse of a fire security examination, the alleged house-owners and the senate now try to get an eviction title for the spaces of the autonomous youthclub Keimzelle and for Kadterschmiede which are located in the groundfloor of the house.
Last year many essential, left spaces such as Liebig34, Syndikat, Meuterei, DieselA, Sabot Garden and G17a, were evicted with martial, expensive copterror. The youthclub Potse has just gotten their eviction date which will be on the 19th of May 2021 at 8am and the Wagenplatz Mollies is supposedly next in line.
This greed has already gone too far, we don’t forget and we won’t forgive!
Køpiplatz is our home and we are here to stay!
Take action, large or small in your city or town.
Make it loud, make it dirty, be creative! Just like Køpi!
Save the Dates:
Bring your anger to Berlin! Block the streets! Stop the city!
15 May – Demo – 20:30 – Gendarmenmarkt
16 May – Rally – 13:00 – Køpi Gates
Don’t wait until it’s too late, this capitalist take over must stop!
Analysis, Tips and Tactics – Don’t wait until it’s too late
Køpi and Rigaer94 are calling for the “Don’t wait until it’s too late” Demo, may 15th on Gendarmenmarkt.
It should be a strong and dynamic demo, not waiting for the next eviction date. There have been many evaluations and analysis of our demos in the last years, enough so to succeed a few times in breaking out of our usual behaviour and winning back some potential for action. We’re hoping for our demos to be good for more than just being seen and heard, or blocking something. It’s about creating collective moments, moments where we can find together in the street, moments of breaking with normality, getting over mass inertia and snapping the social reigns. Moments were we can recognize and experience our collective strength. Not as an event but with the goal of creating an instant which connects us with other points in a timeline of radical praxis and building on them. Moments from which a dynamic can grow, where it’s possible to join spontaneously, where people can dare to try new things and gain experience. In order not to turn this quest into our own impasse it’s necessary to always rethink and adjust our approach and break out of habits and routines. As a base we gathered some analysis and suggestions here.
Groups not rows
To us, the last demos confirmed, static rows don’t make sense in a dynamic demo. They hinder everyone from passing forward or backward quickly, except for the cops who anyhow come from the sides. It can make more sense to walk in chains on the side of the demo, to form a side protection. Even chains only make sense when there is a static threat from outside though, it is much easier to defend yourself or the next person and change positions, when your arms are free. A walking kettle is easier to push away and taking the whole street is quicker when we can flood freely as groups. We can also learn from other contexts that it’s safer to hold eachother by the waistband then hook our arms into eachother.
Who’s street? — ——-! All of it !
Taking up not just the whole street but the sidewalks aswell, makes sense also in a bigger group. If the cops try to cordon off the demo its probably the easiest to break this, if there are as many people on the “other” side intervening as those kettled. If the cops don’t try to cordon us off, taking the sidewalks blocks the cops view, so they have a harder time following who moves how and what happens. To make sure we can create the dynamic we want ourselves, there will only be a Lauti at the beginning and the end. We think bicycles don’t make sense on the demonstration, please consider leaving them somewhere close by. They are a hindrance on the side if they’re walked like a cop line and hold back the last row if they’re in the back. The same goes for prams. We’d ask you to consider if the demo is the right place for young children that cannot choose by themselves what they do and in which situation they get.
Watch out for eachother – Be strong together
Using our collective strength we can, in the best case, avert many arrests. If somebody is getting a bit too much cop attention it’s important to help them disappear in the masses and not block them outside or run away from them. We can block the view on people that want to change clothes, it’s a good idea to bring extra side banners for this. If we keep an eye out for the people around us, we can make sure they don’t miss some important information, get hit in the head, run into a bollard or nobody notices when they need something.
There can certainly be moments where we feel like running away. It always makes sense to stay together and keep calm though, and not just run off especially in those situations. When the situation turns a bit chaotic, taking a deep breath makes more sense then falling into panic and we can help others around us with this. When the time has come to dissipate the demo, leave slowly. Sometimes running makes sense – but it’s important not to leave anyone behind or overrun and knock them over! |Moving with an affinity group, so people that you know, with whom you have experience in the best case or at least have spoken about some things with, makes a lot of sene. What do we like to do? – Where do we have problems? – What are our needs? – How do we keep an eye on each other, in space but also emotionally? – What’s to do and who takes care of what if a person is taken and held by the cops or goes to pretrial detention? – What’s to do on and around the demo? – What do we want to do in the demo?
Of course it makes sense to talk to people even if you come alone, maybe there are some people you’ve run into a few times already.
The demo lives from what you do in it!
For anything to happen during the demo, somebody has to do it.
You are alle invited to think about what you want from this demo and how we all can make it happen. So check out the route beforehand and consider: How and where do you want to join the demo. The starting point is a rather wide square, there are many ways to access it, still it will be the most likely place for a shake-down and have a high cop density. What’s of interest along the route and close by? Sometimes breaking out of the demo can create a good dynamic and make the situation uncontrollable. Things happening outside of the demo take away cop power and can break a kettle with the right timing, it is at the least very motivating.
Which spots could create problems for the demo and what woud be a good way to deal with it, what could you do there? There will be very few bystanders on this route, we still think it makes sense to spread flyers, do glue-ups or spraypaint!.. Where do you want to leave the demo?
Don’t hang around for too long at the end, try to have a plan for leaving. It’s best not to leave alone and try to avoid suddenly running off, it can create a panic and draws a lot of attention to you. Pay attention to where you will go, you probably want to avoid walking straight into the next camera or right into a subway station.
Repression
If you witness any repression around this demonstration, contact interkiezionale@riseup.net, so we can support you and have some idea of how the demo turned out for everybody. If you see an arrest or are held for a longer time yourself, call the EA on 030-69 22222. Please only tell the name of the arrested person and the situation. There will be a group waiting outside the copshop were people are held waiting for their release, you can reach this GESA Support at: +49157 82306155. Berlin cops try to establish close contact, they like to punch, kick and use pepperspray. They are filming demonstrations more and more often and will try to get videomaterial from private surveillance cams in case something happens. The cops usually do a live analysis of their videofeeds, so they can arrest people as soon as possible or after the demo. Dont forget a change of clothes and pay attention to what you’re wearing!
Sanitary Situation
In case of a curfew at the time of the demonstration:
The way to and from a demonstration is legally protected, so you can say that in case of a control. You’re also allowed to go to the next emergency pharmacy or hospital..
So we can create the moments we’re all looking for on a dynamic demo
Autonomy, Solidarity & Awareness
