NEWS FROM BERLIN
Berlin announces its own successor for 9-Euro-Ticket
Berlin is planning a follow-up solution for the 9-Euro-Ticket financed by the state from 1 October until the end of the year. How much the new local public transport ticket will cost, however, is still open. This was announced by the governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) last Friday. Giffey pointed out too there are still a number of unanswered questions that need to be clarified. To this end, there will be talks, not least with the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB). Source: Spiegel
Police attack Black man with taser
Police in Kreuzberg wanted to call an ambulance for a man who was probably confused, but then the situation escalated: One officer pulled out his pistol. The residents’ initiative “Wrangelkiez United”, which campaigns against racial profiling, called the incident a “blatant police assault” and published a photo of the operation. There, the person involved in the operation, a black man, is pixelated and lying on the pavement of Falckensteinstraße. The police officers then lost their nerve: one of them drew his pistol, another the Taser. It was not the police who de-escalated the situation, but passers-by and neighbours. Source: taz
One-off government rebate for energy
September will bring many different issues to Germany, some related to energy: in the next month, the Federal Government will pay out a one-off flat-rate energy allowance of 300 euros. It also comes a new energy-saving regulation in force, from 1 September to 28 February. Monuments in public spaces, for instance, will no longer be illuminated after 10 pm. The fuel rebate and nine-euro ticket end, too. In Berlin, there should be more car-sharing vehicles available in the city´s outlying areas. Also, nursing staff in Germany should receive more money because nursing homes will then have to pay at least according to the collective wage agreement. Source: rbb
Left wing Green MP dies
Christian Ströbele, RAF lawyer, co-founder of the taz and the Greens, “king of Kreuzberg”, died on last Monday, after a long disease. He was from the 1968 generation, and no ordinary politician. Among the increasingly indistinguishable members of the Bundestag, he was a singular phenomenon: radical, persistent, incorruptible, eccentric. His strongly developed sense of justice, his deep need for justice, he said himself, was always the driving force behind his actions. For many Greens and even more of his voters, he was even considered as the conscience of the party. Source: taz
NEWS FROM GERMANY
Demonstration planned after arson attack on asylum shelter
In the week of remembrance of the racist riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen 30 years ago, an arson attack was carried out on a shelter for refugees in Leipzig. Unknown perpetrators threw several incendiary devices against the wall of a house on Saturday night, according to the State Criminal Police Office (LKA). No one was injured. Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) called it an alarming sign “that such inhuman crimes are not a thing of the past”. The action network “Leipzig nimmt Platz” called for a demonstration on last Monday evening in Grünau. Source: t-online
SPD wants direct payments and 49-euro ticket
As a reaction to the rapidly rising energy prices, the SPD is seeking, among other things, direct payments, a price brake for basic energy needs and a 49-euro ticket. This is the result of a draft resolution for the parliamentary group meeting at the beginning of September. The direct payments – similar to the coming energy allowance of 300 Euros – are still relatively vague. The paper also envisages a successor to the 9-euro ticket, also a nationwide transport ticket with the monthly price of 49 euros, financed 50 per cent each by the States and the Federal Government. Source: tagesschau
Thousands of cyclists bring over 70,000 signatures to Wiesbaden
Several thousand people cycled on the motorway from Frankfurt to Wiesbaden last Sunday. The organisers of the initiative “Verkehrswende Hessen” handed ocer 70,232 signatures, many more than necessary, for a planned referendum to Transport Minister Tarek Al Wazir (Greens). The organizers of the bike action speak of at least 10,000 participants on the day. The petition demands a referendum to pass a law that would make mobility in Hessen climate-neutral and socially just by 2030. This requires significant expansion to cycle paths, footpaths and, above all, buses and trains. Source: hessenschau
