NEWS FROM BERLIN
Police clear lecture theatre at Humboldt University
Last Wednesday, the police evacuated the Emil Fischer lecture theatre occupied by pro-Palestinian activists on the North Campus of Humboldt University. The police used battering rams to get into the building and filed dozens of charges. Slogans such “Yallah Intifada” and “Zionists are fascists” were sprayed on the walls of the lecture theatre. The university’s president affirmed that “the red lines had been crossed. And we then quickly decided together as the Presidential Board that evacuation was the only right course of action in this case.” According to a police spokesperson, the occupiers did not pose any resistance during the eviction. Source: tagesspiegel
Protests against arms race on Easter in Germany
Over the Easter weekend, the 43rd Berlin Easter March against war and militarization was organized in Kreuzberg. Under the motto “Yes to peace,” the demonstrators marched through the neighbourhood behind the dove of peace. The organisers estimate 6,000 participants, while the police estimate 1,800. The Berlin march is one of around 100 across the country, whose central theme was he advancing rearmament in Germany. Compared to the heyday of the peace movement in the 1980s, the protests are small today. Source: nd
NEWS FROM GERMANY
Reservist association wants to reintroduce “tank signs”
Until 2009, yellow “tank signs” used to be installed along roads of military relevance in West Germany to indicate whether military vehicles could use them. The chairman of the reservists’ association, Patrick Sensburg, is calling for their reintroduction on motorway bridges because the Bundeswehr does not know the condition of many of them. Sensburg also criticised that information such as the load-bearing capacity of bridges must be retrieved from a database. He warned that, in case of an emergency: “If the planned route has to be changed, the soldiers in charge will find it difficult to access centrally managed databases, and a stalled convoy would be an easy target.” Source: n-tv
Second death within a week: police shoot man in Constance
A man died after being shot by police in Hilzingen, in the district of Constance. There was no further danger to the population, a police spokesman said later. According to the Südkurier, the man is said to have threatened several people beforehand. He is also said to have hit a car, in which a girl was reportedly sitting, with an axe. The State Office of Criminal Investigation has taken over the investigation. Last week, a man was killed by police in the neighbouring town of Schramberg. The 48-year-old had previously threatened the police officers and ignored their request to put the axe down. Source: bz
Queer people called “Satan’s spawn” by AfD politician
AfD politician Leyla Bilge has been convicted of incitement to hatred by the Magdeburg district court and sentenced to a fine of 2,700 euros. Two years ago, the 42-year-old made a vile incitement against queer people in a party conference speech. Bilge had applied for a place on the list for the European elections at the AfD party conference at the Magdeburg Exhibition Centre in July 2023 and in her candidacy speech, she referred to queer people as “paedophiles,” “disturbed” and “Satan’s spawn.” Source: queer.de
Bundestag President Julia Klöckner wants to mediate
After their election success, the AfD has a large parliamentary group in the new Bundestag. What does this mean for parliamentary business and important offices? Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) joins the debate on how to deal with the far-right party AfD in parliamentary procedures and functions. “No parliamentary group, no MP will be treated differently from others by the Presidium.” Klöckner also announced that she would mediate in contentious organisational issues. Jens Spahn (CDU) had also spoken out in favour of dealing with the AfD in parliament in the same way as with other opposition parties. Source: taz
Majority of employees take a critical view of Germany as a business location
Many employees have doubts about Germany as a business location. More than half of them (56%) believe that Germany’s competitiveness has deteriorated over the past five years, according to the latest job study by the auditing and consulting firm EY. The company declared that more than 2,000 employees in Germany were surveyed by an independent market research institute. Respondents rated the future viability of Germany as a business location as rather negative (43%). Younger employees up to the age of 35 were much more positive about the future viability of the location than those aged between 36 and 65. Source: welt
