GOOD COP, BAD COP
Police Officer Arrested for Joining Berlin's May Day Riot
During the May Day protests last week, Berlin police clashed with nearly every
kind of demonstrator imaginable -- including one of their own. An off-duty
police officer from Frankfurt has been arrested for stone-throwing during riots
which left over 450 of his colleagues injured.
This year's May Day riots proved to be a serious headache for the roughly 6,000
police officers on duty in Berlin last Friday. Over 450 of them -- four times
as many as last year -- reported injuries, with 19 requiring out-patient
hospital care, Berlin police chief Dieter Glietsch reported.
PHOTO GALLERY: COPS AND CHAOS IN BERLIN
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-42305.html#backToArticle=623723
Adding insult to injury is the news that one of the 289 protestors police
arrested during the violence was actually one of their own -- a fellow officer
with the German Federal Police.
The 24-year-old, usually stationed at Frankfurt International Airport, is
suspected of taking part in the May Day riots in Berlin and -- in at least two
instances -- throwing cobblestones and striking police officers. He was
off-duty and staying in Kreuzberg, the multi-ethnic and alternative
neighborhood at the center of the annual demonstrations, during his visit to
the capital, where he completed his training in August last year.
The policeman has been suspended and will remain off-duty until the criminal
proceedings are over, said a representative for the German Federal Police on
Friday. "We are all a bit shocked, because this is not the behavior we expect
from a colleague," a spokeswoman for the Frankfurt Airport police told German
news agency DDP.
The mass circulation German daily Bild wrote in its Friday edition that the
officer, a reported paintball enthusiast, had described his mood online as
"looking for a fight."
The Labor Day holiday has been well-known for decades for its regular outbreaks
of violence and the disorderly situation has become something of a tradition in
Berlin -- and has since spread to other German cities, Hamburg in particular.
In recent years, popular outdoor festivals held on May Day appeared to have
cooled down some of the aggression -- although the peaceful performances and
gatherings usually morph into some degree of stone-throwing and car-burning as
the sun goes down. This year, however, marked an increase in mayhem, with some
speculating that the amplified unrest might be in response to the ongoing
economic crisis, especially rising unemployment. Protestors of all varieties --
left-wing, far-right, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, and anarchist -- clashed
with riot police in various Berlin neighborhoods.
Until the early morning hours, police were attacked with bottles, stones, and
firecrackers -- and responded in turn with tear gas, batons, and pepper spray,
arresting twice as many protestors as last year in the process.
On Saturday morning, street cleaning teams battled the trash -- collecting 100
cubic meters of garbage, stones, and shards of broken glass.
jcm - with wire reports
