AfD demands immediate removal of bike lanes, Geisel flies to Greece after refugee standoff, campaign to encourage mask-wearing in pubs
The Berlin branch of the AfD has demanded the immediate removal of the city’s pop-up cycle paths after a court ruled earlier this month that the lanes were illegal. The Senat had been given reprieve after it announced it was to launch an appeal against the September 4 decision, but today the far-right party has written to Berlin’s Administrative Court calling on Senators to "comply with their obligations under the decision by the [court] and adhere to the deadline or face a fine.” The Senat is set to formally launch its appeal this week.
Interior Senator Andreas Geisel flew to Athens today to discuss plans for Berlin to take in refugees from the island of Lesbos. The move comes after a standoff between the SPD politician and Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) after Seehofer said Germany would take no more than 150 migrants from the Moria camp, which was destroyed in an arson attack last week. The Senat has repeatedly offered to take in 300 of the camp’s residents to Berlin but the federal government has rejected German states from coming to their own cross-border agreements. Geisel called Seehofer's reluctance to accept greater numbers "shameful".
A new campaign to encourage Berlin’s pub goers to wear face masks has been launched today by Economic Senator Ramona Pop. To get the city’s drinkers to cover up the Senat will produce posters, beer mats and masks with a range of humorous slogans, including “Maske auf. Sonst Lokal zu” (“Mask on otherwise your local will shut”) and “Endlich: Die Bedienung will Deine Telefonnummer” (“Finally the waitress wants your phone number”). The Green politician’s campaign is intended to encourage people to abide by the rules before the onset of autumn brings drinkers indoors.
Nawalny’s condition improves, left-wing protest curtailed
The condition of Russian opposition politician Alexei Nawalny is improving, his doctors confirmed today. The Kremlin critic, who was brought out of an induced coma last Monday, is no longer on a ventilator and is able to leave his hospital bed for short periods. Nawalny has been under police guard at the Charité since August 22 after being flown to Berlin from Russia when his family suspected he had been poisoned. Doctors from the Charité and the Armed Forces Hospital have since confirmed that the 44-year-old had been the victim of a poisoning. There have been no announcements about when Nawalny might be discharged.
Protestors marching against the eviction of several left-wing squats in Berlin were forced to disband on Saturday evening after organisers called off the demonstration. The protest had been planned in response to the closure of the Kreuzberg venue Syndikat and the eviction of the Liebig 34 squat. The march was organised under the banner "Feminismus auf die Straße tragen - Freiräume verteidigen" but was prematurely halted on Köpenicker Straße, according to police. A spokesperson said more than 1000 people turned up to the gathering, with 20 arrests made.
Firefighters report increased abuse, fisherman pulls grenade out of canal
The Berliner Feuerwehr says it is increasingly facing violence from the public after figures released today showed that there is an attack on rescue workers every 42 hours on average. According to the data there were 211 attacks on rescue workers last year, with drunken onlookers during late-night operations posing a particular problem. Feuerwehr Vice Chairman Karsten Göwecke blamed the public’s attitude towards fire and rescue employees. "We have to establish a different value system in society in order to avoid these cases,” he said. The majority of the Feuerwehr’s dispatches actually involve ambulances and paramedics, with total callouts rising to 478,281 last year – 14,000 more than in the previous year.
An amateur fisherman got a surprise on Sunday: the angler caught a mortar grenade while fishing in a stretch of the Spree canal in Mitte. Forensic technicians examined the device, which was fished out by Gertraudenbrücke near Spittelmarkt, but confirmed it wasn’t live. "There was no danger from it," a police spokesman told Bild. The area around the bridge was closed to traffic for a short time while investigations took place.