Yesterday was international labour day, a day that is traditionally connected to protests and demonstrations all around the world.

In Berlin, labour day protests have a long tradition, the revolutionary demonstration on May 1st celebrated its 25th anniversary this year.

But one thing at a time.

For me, the day started at around 1PM with visiting the MyFest, which is the biggest May Day celebration every year.

Please click the images to enlarge



There were loads of people on the street, billions of little food stands and so much to see.

After walking around the MyFest for several hours, we sat down in the nearby Görlitzer Park, to enjoy the sun and relax a bit. It was hot, really hot, and so we were more than thankful for the short shower of rain that cooled us down (while the sun was still shining!!!)

Shortly after this shower of rain, the demonstration was about to start, so the last young people hit the road to home.

At 6 PM, the scheduled beginning time of the big demonstration, nothing happened.

The start of the demo was delayed almost 2 hours, until it started its way on the planned tour.

In the 2 hours of waiting for the demo to start, there were some interesting actions happening in the group of people.

After the demonstration started, the atmosphere was heating up.

Paroles were called and the first stones were thrown, but except some demolished windows, nothing serious happened.

After the demo passed the Axel Springer Haus, the central of germanies biggest and certainly much hated yellow press publisher, the whole atmosphere changed.

Explosives were thrown, as well as dozens of stones and bottles.

This resulted in several arrests, which leaded to even more aggressiveness in the mob.

At this point, the police decided to cancel the whole demonstration, due to several malicious damages and assaults.

Before the atmosphere finally cooled down, a trash bin was set on fire, which attracted many people to rest and enjoy the fire.

The police requested the masses to leave the spot, and emphasized this request by extinguishing the flames.

The street started to empty slowly, and the whole extent of the violence became visible.

All in all it was an interesting and demanding day, which was definitely worth the risk.

I even met an amazing dutch riot photographer, who invited me for a drink after the street action was over.

Thank you Tom!

Please note that this documentation is purely based on my subjective impressions. I only report what I have experienced.

Yours

Crazy Ivory