Berlin: Hundreds protest against eviction of feminist group from historic Liebig 34 building

During the eviction, police officers use a turntable ladder to go through a window of the squatted house "Liebig 34" in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. (AP)

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied overnight in Berlin’s Friedrichshain district to protest against the eviction of a left-wing radical feminist group from a building that they have occupied for the last 30 years.

Around 1,500 German police officials, wearing riot gear were deployed outside the historic Liebig 34 building Friday morning to enforce the eviction order, DW reported. Clashes also erupted between protestors and law enforcement authorities, as officers attempted to break through the building’s barricaded front entrance.

Hundreds of people have gathered in #Liebig34 in Berlin to defend a building occupied by anarcho-queer-feminists that police has planned to evacuate this morning. Safe to say that antifas & police have a long history of stand offs in this Berlin suburb.
More to follow on @dwnews pic.twitter.com/FJWGtIYDkO

— Emmanuelle Chaze (@EmmanuelleChaze) October 9, 2020

Videos shared widely on social media showed police officials using ladders to climb through the windows of the building to evacuate its occupants. In the videos, protestors standing below are also heard cheering loudly in support of the feminist group’s members as 17 of them were escorted out.

Occupants of Liebig 34, a self-proclaimed “anarchy-queer-feminist” housing project, termed the eviction illegal and claimed that police did not permit their lawyer to enter the building. In a tweet shared from its official handle, the group alleged that several people have also been arrested.

VIDEO: German police evacuate ‘Liebig 34’, a famous squat in Berlin.

Liebig 34, an “anarcho-queer-feminist” space, with a façade covered with graffiti and banners, has been offering shelter to about 40 women, trans and intersex people since 1999 pic.twitter.com/VDORXCIRSp

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 9, 2020

Covered in posters and graffiti, the Liebig 34 building has been a safe haven for women, trans and intersex people in the German capital since 1999. Earlier this year in August, hundreds of left-wing activists took to the streets to protest against the eviction of a left-wing bar called Syndikat, which was run by the occupants of the building.

The tenants were first ordered to leave the building after their landlord, Gijora Padovicz, refused to renew their 10-year lease in 2018 and filed a lawsuit against them. The building is popularly known to be one of the last symbols of the left-wing scene in Berlin.

According to police accounts, the demonstrators had set tires and garbage dumpsters ablaze and attacked officers with glass projectiles and fireworks. The protestors had also allegedly set fire to a nearby metro station building.

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