Published
Tue, Apr 2, 2019, 13:37
- The left-wing space was hosting a talk from Sea Watch, a private organisation dedicated to saving refugees crossing the Mediterranean.
Berlin club and cultural space Mensch Meier was stormed by police on Saturday evening.
At the time of the raid, the Prenzlauer Berg space was hosting talks by Sea Watch & Friends, a private organisation conducting sea rescue missions for asylum seekers in the Mediterranean. A Facebook post by the venue describes a violent encounter with police and customs officials beginning at 8:30 PM. According to the statement, the club's security were approached by several people in civilian clothing while setting up fencing outside the door. When security retired to the ticket booth, the group attacked the entrance. The security team, thinking they were Nazis, attempted to deny access by using pepper spray. The individuals were later revealed to be police and customs officials, although they did not declare their identity at the time, the statement says.
Police dispute the claims, saying the initial officers on the scene were not in civilian clothes, identified themselves as law enforcement, and that the bouncers were aware they were repelling police, six of whom were injured in the process. The club's 42-year-old doorman was arrested during the raid.
Mensch Meier's statement goes on to describe a large team of riot police arriving and forcibly entering the venue, rounding up employees and attendees who were held to the ground, handcuffing and threatening civilians with firearms. Police refute this characterisation, saying only two officers bore weapons and that they remained pointed towards the floor. However, Mensch Meier says several people were injured in the raid and that the doors to the club's offices were destroyed during a search. The club also says when lawyers arrived on the scene, the operation was called off.
A statement from Berlin club advocate Reclaim Club Culture describes the raid as a politically motivated attack intended to criminalise immigrant activist groups like Sea Watch. A spokesman for the Senate Department For Home Affairs And Sport told Groove magazine that police were at the venue to assist customs officers investigating an anonymous tip of illegal employment and that the raid was not connected to the event taking place.
The raid was preceded by German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announcing plans for a new law making the process of deporting immigrants more efficient, which was protested at solidarity parties at Mensch Meier and another left-wing Berlin club, ://about blank.
Many details remain unclear about the events. Mensch Meier is exploring potential legal responses to the raid. We will update this piece as more details emerge.