The district around Rigaer Straße is one of the last places in Berlin that radical leftists claim for themselves.
They want to live autonomously, far away from the state and reject the system and capitalism.
The occupied houses are the main symbol of this scene.
The Liebig 34, which was evacuated in 2020 and the Rigaer 94, which is still partially occupied, but which is also threatened with eviction.
And the fight for this last bastion is fierce.
In this three-part report series, WELT reporter Ibrahim Naber tries to get to the bottom of the conflict.
Here comes episode 2: the squatters.
An excerpt from the transcript
WORLD:
But to the outside, sometimes when people somehow cross borders here, but are then already out for attacks and riots.
Ralf:
Yes, you're right there.
Of course, the house has a very clear wall.
First fight off and then look very slowly.
But that's why everyone here can ultimately bring who they want with them.
So it's not such a hard front at all.
You know what I mean?
It's very easy to break.
That's why the paranoia is so high.
Ralf:
They told me up there in the course of an action disguised as a construction project, they just wanted to clear it.
Anyway, up there they tried somehow to smash the wall with a hammer and they couldn't because it was bricked with clinker and concrete.
Then, because they couldn't get through, they went to the attic, as the two criminals they hired had police protection.
They protected you, yes!
And then knocked through the ceiling upstairs and were suddenly in my room.
Ralf
on his own cell phone video
:
You
're breaking
my apartment, man.
Here, look at this!
There!
Age.
Stop!
What's that about?!
Man!
Ralf:
I'm not a stone thrower, a left-wing radical, violent autonomous man.
I want the opposite.
I'm a tenant here, so that's that.
And I pay.
Let them have their money.
According to me.
You can have it all.
I don't need the shit money.
You know?
I do not care.
I need friends.