This is an attempt to explain the current situation in Hamburg for folks who are reading things about the hashtag #gefahrengebiet, the "Rote Flora", "Lampedusa in Hamburg" and other things. I do have an opinion on this but i'm trying to explain it in simple words. So please don't kill me for minor inaccuracies or facts you might judge different from your political point of view. I'm also trying to be quick and my sources are all german.
@hdsjulian@15MBcn_int what kicked all this off? anglophone twitter friends are saying wtf to me atm.
Quinn Norton (@quinnnorton) January 6, 2014
The "Rote Flora": In 1989 a former theatre in the Hamburg quarter of "Sternschanze" was squatted and has been since. It was renamed from "Alte Flora" (Old Flora) to "Rote Flora" (Red Flora) and has been a centre of the autonomous left in hamburg since. In 2001 it was sold to an investor under the premise that it would not be evicted. Long story short: times have changed, flora is again (sorta, loong story) being threatened with eviction.
The Group "Lampedusa in Hamburg" is a group of approximately 70 refugees currently being protected by the church in St. Pauli (the area South-West of Sternschanze). With no legal status they are living in fear of deportation. In October 2013 the city started to stop and search people of colour in and around St. Pauli in order to find out the names of those people and register them for possible deportation.
The "Esso-Häuser" is a set of old buildings on "Reeperbahn", Hamburg's amusement mile at the heart of St. Pauli, that have been left to rot by their owners. They were scheduled for demolishment in July but deemed uninhabitable and instable in december and therefore evacuated just before christmas leaving approximately 70 inhabitants(and also a legendary live music club...) temporarily without a home (the inhabitants were put into hotels and will receive offers for alternative flats.
These three topics are the main focal point for the current social conflicts in hamburg. The underlying ones being of course gentrification (It is nowadays impossible for people with low income to find an affordable flat in the centre of hamburg and especially St. Pauli and Sternschanze have been heavily gentrifying in the last years) and racist immigration laws / the whole Fortress Europe complex.
In October a rally protesting the warrantless search of people of colour in St. Pauli was stopped by riot police only a couple of hundred metres after starting. The offical reasoning was to prevent violence. This sparked a lot of protest in the following weeks and culminated in the December 21 protests and following riot. The whole situation has been heavily reported on; to make it short: about 10000 protestors from all across europe gathered in front of Rote Flora and were stopped by riot police using kettlings, water cannons, baton charges and pepper spray after walking for approximately 10-20 metres. The offical reasoning being that the rally started too early, however there are rumours that right wing commanding officers within the police force had planned this abrupt stop beforehand. Before and after the December 21 riots police stations and other public buildings (and also almost every shop in Sternschanze that could be identified as "gentrifying") were attacked and window glass was smashed.
The police issued a now highly disputed statement that on December 28 2013 a group of 30-40 rioters attacked the "Davidwache", a police station in St. Pauli, smashed windows (which is documented to have happened on the night of December 20th but not on that night) and also attacked a policeman, hitting his head with a stone. This caused a major uproar in Hamburg but was, however, contested on January 5th by one of the lawyers defending Rote Flora. Subsequently the Police acknowledged "mistakes" in the statement, the cause is still ongoing.
This, in addition to a lot of press attention and a police force trying to contain daily minor spontaneous protests as well as, sometimes, attacks on public buildings or large shops (such as an American Apparel Store) caused the Police to declare a vast area of Hamburg (St. Pauli, Sternschanze and adjacent quarters) a "Gefahrengebiet" or "Danger area". This allows the police to stop and search people without a warrant and, without any additional order by a court, issue letters of "eviction" or "Aufenthaltsverbote". This means that, until a certain time, this person has to leave the danger area it is currently trespassing. I have heard of people living in the area that they were allowed to walk to their homes (if they were in the area) but had to stay alone doing so, and stay indoors. The eviction notices are usually given out until 6 AM the next morning.
In addition to random searches, spontaneous protests are quickly stopped or kettled.
As I said, there is a lot more to this, very many shitty details, but this should sum up the most of it. Additions are welcome in the comments. As I want this to be an informative post, I'd kindly ask people to abstain from posting anything that solely contains an opinion.
A Googlish translation which states that there was no attack on the police station which was one of the stated reasons for the (way over the top) police response.
Quote:'Stop' to David Guard: What is known so far
06 January 2014 22:55
In almost all media is the talk of it had been a planned and targeted attack of 30 to 40 masked people on the Davidwache in Hamburg on the last weekend of December. A display, which is increasingly questionable. The police corrected their own information - even indoors Committee of the Hamburg Parliament.
From Andrej Reisin and Patrick Gensing
The alleged attack on the Davidwache 28 December 2013 is cited as a key reason for the establishment of the danger area in Hamburg. Police said on 5 January with:
In recent weeks, police officers and police facilities were attacked repeatedly. These include in particular the attack on 12/12/2013 at the police station 16 and the two attacks from 20.12.2013 and 12.28.2013 on the Davidwache in which police officers were greatly injured.
In numerous media it became a 'stop' on the watch. For example, wrote the dpa still today 6 January 2014:
'Only on the last weekend of December, three policemen were severely injured in an attack on the Davidwache on the Reeperbahn. Investigators continue to look for a stranger who from close range severely injured an officer with a stone. '
Many journalists outlined a scenario in which a closed, muffled occurring group had deliberately targeted the police station and on schedule. Base was a first press release of the police, which stated:
At the time of the crime [around 23:00 clock] 30 to 40 wearing dark clothing, some chanting (including with St.Pauli scarves) masked people in chants of 'St.Pauli - shit bulls - Have you still not enough! When police officers then came out of the Davidwache, they were attacked on the corner of Reeperbahn / David Street from the group of people out selectively and abruptly with stone and bottle throwing.
If the Davidwache attacked? (Photo: Line)
Yesterday disagreed with the lawyer Andreas Beuth, the representation of the police and most of the media. An attack of 30 to 40 persons to the police station did not exist, so Beuth, who relies on witnesses who had turned to him, but wanted to remain anonymous for fear of prosecution. Was undisputed that a police officer was seriously injured by an object, but not before David Guard. However Beuth message left open many questions, talking with possible eye witnesses, he also rejected again today from.
Eyewitness describes other course - Police corrects itself
Another eyewitness reported Publikative.org also, of course things were different, as claimed by the police first. He had the events observed by chance, after he had come from a concert in a Reeperbahn club. He had a loose group of maximum 25 persons observed was neither masked nor as an organized group had occurred. It stated that there has been no stone or bottles litters immediately before Davidwache.
Rather, the group sang loudly football chants was, pulled past the guard, whereupon police had tried from the Davidwache to stop the group. Here, a member of the group had been brought to the ground in the middle of the Reeperbahn by a policeman. This has in turn drawn a purely verbal altercation after which can initially brought to the floor person had been but again 'allowed to run.' Only a short time later, the injured officer from the Hein-Hoyer-Strasse had come - and brought in the Davidwache.
The police also corrected now their own information, at least partially: The attack on three police officers had not taken place at the David Street, but about 200 meters away, at the corner Seilerstraße / Hein-Hoyer-Strasse, so police spokesman Mirko Streiber against the TAZ. This however, does not result in the ongoing investigation, they say. Video footage of the alleged 'attack' on the Davidwache does not exist according to the police, however, for reasons of data protection, surveillance cameras recorded the local no pictures.
Meeting in the Committee on Internal Affairs
The events of recent weeks were now also the subject of the Home Affairs Committee of the Hamburg Parliament. There, reported to the chief police officer, Peter Born, officials in the Davidwache were given the vociferous calls assumes a kind of spontaneous demonstration and had left the station without protective clothing - to the group of people at uncontrolled pulling to prevent. This version differs from the first published so far, as that is now emphasized that the officers ask themselves the group and wanted to control. This would, however - did not come, because even before the Davidwache a 'stone-and bottle hail' was descended on the official - according to Peter Born.
Chief of Police Kopitzsch said in committee, the attack on the Davidwache interested now also the federal prosecutor who was considering to take the investigation itself. This could be the chief federal prosecutor then do when he arrives at the conviction that they are offenses which are directed against the internal security of the Federal Republic - so-called national security offenses such as terrorism. A reporter of the transmitter FSK other hand, reported, Senator of the Interior Neumann was considering for the first time, that in the incident also happened to be passing coming pubs visitors might have been involved.
Despite unknown gunman: media attribution to 'Links Autonomous'
Ultimately, a complete reconstruction of the crime in connection with the events before and around the Davidwache 28 December 2013 probably will not be possible. A planned and targeted 'attack' on the Davidwache is doubtful even after the current status of investigations by police and prosecutors. The different versions put at least rather close to a spontaneous sequence of different events. It should not be forgotten that at least one perpetrator (even detect the prosecution for attempted manslaughter) is guilty of serious bodily harm.
That's why the exact course of events is not a minor issue. In addition, is justified by the supposedly organized approach and the large number of targeted attacks on police stations and other government institutions, the establishment of the highly controversial danger area - and this is likely also the reason for the possible takeover of the proceedings by the Federal Attorney General to be sought.
Become abundantly clear in any case once again how misleading a media campaign is based on a completely unquestioned press release from the police - and beyond even louder things invents, not even stand in that very message which - such as the localization the offender in the context of the flora - which according to the current status of investigations themselves according to the police is pure speculation. It is still not a single Tatbeteiligter determined.
See also: Were there no second attack on the Davidwache, Greetings from the Danger Zone, The agitators, # HH2112:? Police, the media and the violence escalation in the hill, Hamburg: Beyond Good and Evil, Lampedusa and the Hamburg SPD: Cui bono, Blockupy: researchers criticize police violence, beatings that shape? - As violence formed biographies for major events
![[Image: HH2112_0310.JPG]](http://zeitspuk.de/uploads/HH2112_0310.JPG)