“Fire Inferno in Hamburg’s Billstrasse: A Look into the Legal Vacuum and Future Plans for Fighting Illegality”

A MOPO reporter is only allowed to enter the blocked off part of Billstrasse with a police escort. The investigators are wearing respiratory masks – even two days after the major fire, small columns of smoke are still rising from the rubble.

Fire inferno in Hamburg: “This is a legal vacuum”

After the thick layer of smoke has cleared, questions arise: How were the warehouses checked? And what does the city want to do now?

Billstraße is known for stolen goods and other underhand businesses. Even stolen bicycles are sold here. One import-export trade follows the next on the street, many traders sell used household appliances abroad.

When MOPO asked around on Tuesday, a man who didn’t want to read his name in the newspaper found clear words: “This is a legal vacuum,” he says. This is also how the police union (GdP) assessed it which MOPO reported on the conditions on the street last year.

How the city wants to fight illegality

The district is aware of what is happening on Billstrasse. Controls are carried out as soon as there are concrete indications, for example from police reports. The problem: “If we can stop illegal use after lengthy and difficult procedures, the property will be sold and the next illegal use will begin. The work starts all over again,” says district chief Ralf Neubauer (SPD).

The city wants to go further. Last year, the district and economic authorities developed the “Billstraße 2035 target image”. Here everyone agrees: a municipal right of first refusal is needed. In this way, the city can acquire the land itself before it falls back into the hands of the traders. “The enactment of a right of first refusal is currently being examined, and we expect a timely result,” says Neubauer.

What is the situation on the site after the devastating fire, read at mopo.de.