May Day in Berlin 2014. Last year we missed May Day as we were out of the country, so this year we were very keen to check it out.
In past years, particulalry the late 80's up to the mid 90's, the Berlin May Day celebrations in Kreuzberg were politically motivated events that ended up in riots, violence, looting and confrontations with police. In one May Day riot the crowd was so overwhelming that the police had to retreat from Kreuzber altogether!
In recent years, the celebrations in Kreuzberg are more festival/party-goer orientated rather than political (though protest marches still occur), and the authorities support the public festivals as a method of things getting out of hand. This sounds like the public get used as human shields!
The streets of Kreuzberg are lined with police, thousands of them, ready to squash any unrest before it spreads.
So on our first May Day we walked from Friedrichshain and into Kreuzberg with a few friends. The very first intersection was blocked by a police car (Köpenickerstraße-Skalitzerstraße) where the Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn is located. This marked the start of the 'festivities' and the whole of Kreuzberg was similarly cordoned off and lined with police.
We made our way up Skalitzerstraße to join the party are at Oranienburgerstraße, where crowds of people jammed the streets. Lining the footpaths were drink and food stands, and people in their apartments looking out below. It was stupendously busy and hard to keep our group together.
Once we made it through the crowds we chilled out on the grassey area of Oranienplatz. Later on we went to a bar called Travolta, where a barfly fiend of ours always keeps a stool war. Just 5 metres from Travolta we encountered a police line which prevented us from passing as a political march went through the area. Eventually the police let us through and we could get to the bar.
As night fell, the early nice weather turned bad, cold winds and a bit of rain told us that it was time to go home. I'm sure the police were happy that the weather wasn't right for rioting.
As far as I know, this May Day passed without serious incident, and was a lot of fun for us!
Below is a photo essay of the day - beware, a LOT of crowd photos.
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