Scholz insulted and whistled – police expect violence

• Scholz whistled at the 1st of May demo: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is greeted with a whistling concert at a demo on Labor Day.
• Antifa Calls for “Revolutionary May Day Demonstration”: The police expect violent riots in both Berlin and Frankfurt.
• May Day demonstrations: Read all the news here in our live ticker.

On May 1st there will be demonstrations all over Germany. In Berlin there are first riots. All the news on Labor Day in our Newsticker.

+++ 4:01 p.m.: In the night of May Day, the Berlin police reported the first riots. According to information from the dpa, paint bags are said to have been thrown and windows smashed at a demonstration in the Prenzlauer Berg district. Police forces are also said to have been attacked. A few demonstrators were arrested.

+++ 3.25 p.m.: At the main rally of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) at the Brandenburg Gate, the governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) also stood at the lectern. Similar to Chancellor Scholz in Düsseldorf, Giffey’s appearance was accompanied by boos and whistles. During the speech, an egg flew in the direction of the mayor, but was repelled by a security guard with an umbrella. As a result, Giffey’s speech was cut short.

The Berlin police are due to numerous May demonstrations on Sunday before a large-scale operation. The police want to be particularly vigilant during the “Revolutionary May Day Demonstration”. Around 5,500 officers are said to be on duty on Sunday.

May 1: Chancellor Scholz booed and insulted at the May rally

+++ 3.10 p.m.: At the May rally in Düsseldorf, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was greeted by loud noise, shouts of protest and whistles. In his speech, he defended German arms deliveries to Ukraine. Scholz was accompanied by chants that described him as a “warmonger” and “liar”. Scholz called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war against Ukraine immediately. Germany will continue to support Ukraine against the “imperialist attack”. “We will not allow borders to be moved by force,” said the Chancellor. Weapons deliveries are also necessary for this.

He also emphasized that they wanted to continue to adhere to the social and climate policy goals of the Federal Republic. Germany will prove that an industrialized country can work in a CO2-neutral manner.

+++ 1 p.m.: The Sunday morning of May 1st has been quiet in Berlin so far. According to the Berlin police, no incidents have been registered so far. A large bicycle demonstration with up to 10,000 participants had been registered for the early morning in Grunewald. In Berlin-Mitte at the Brandenburg Gate, the German Federation of Trade Unions had organized a central rally on Labor Day.

“Revolutionary May Day demonstration”: Antifa calls for a demo in Frankfurt and Berlin

Update from Sunday, May 01, 2022, 10:34 a.m.: The Berlin police are expecting up to 20,000 participants at the traditional “Revolutionary May Day Demonstration”. The demonstration takes place under the motto “Yallah class struggle – No war but class war” and moves through the districts of Kreuzberg and Neukölln. The authorities expect violence from left-wing extremists.

To keep violent riots in check, more than 5,500 officers will be on site in the city areas. The demonstration is scheduled to begin this year at around 4 p.m. on Hertzbergplatz on Sonnenallee in Neukölln. From 6 p.m., the procession of demonstrators will move via Sonnenallee and Kottbusser Damm to Oranienplatz.

May Day in Germany: Where are there demonstrations?

+++ 5.45 p.m.: On May Day there will be protests in many larger cities such as Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main and Nuremberg. In Berlin, however, in a different way than the organizers had hoped. A police spokesman informed rbb of the route change.

Several street festivals were given as the reason. The organizers see “the danger that the police could intentionally attack and break up the demonstration at this point,” as reported by rbb.

List of demonstrations announced for May 1, 2022:

• Nuremberg: 11.30 a.m. at Bauerngasse
• Berlin: 10 a.m. at Alexanderplatz and 4.30 p.m. at Hertzbergplatz
• Bremen: 1 p.m. at the main train station
• Dortmund: 4 p.m. at the Weser Park
• Frankfurt am Main: 10.30 a.m. Hauptwache and 6 p.m. at Willy-Brandt-Platz
• Hamburg: 11 a.m. at Heussweg and 4 p.m. at Berliner Tor
• Köln: 12 p.m. at Hans-Böckler-Platz and 5 p.m. at Wiener Platz
• Leipzig: 3 p.m. at Südplatz and Augustusplatz

Update from Saturday, April 30, 11:30 a.m.: Numerous demonstrations in German cities have been registered for May Day, especially in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. The police have already announced a tough approach to the protests in the capital. Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) told the RBB that officials would “intervene massively” in the event of violence. In Berlin alone, up to 6,000 police officers are said to be on duty. According to Spranger, they were required to use a de-escalating “strategy of the outstretched hand”. “The police will react to the situation as necessary,” she also told the taz.

First report from Friday, April 29, 12:00 p.m.: Frankfurt/Berlin – Price increases for employees and concerns about the economy and jobs: the consequences of the Ukraine war will also have a say in the trade union rallies in May.

Especially for people with small and middle incomes, the increased energy prices meant an enormous burden that had to be cushioned further, said the Hessian DGB district chairman Michael Rudolph of the German Press Agency. “We have to talk about reducing the electricity tax, but also temporarily reducing the value added tax on energy.” The risks for the economy and the labor market also need to be mitigated. The first companies reduced their production. “It is important that measures such as easier access to short-time work are extended.”

1 May: A special day for the unions

On Sunday, the trade unions will take to the streets in nationwide rallies for “a just and social future”, as the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) announced. For former Verdi boss Frank Bsirske, it is a special day at work. “It’s the first May Day in decades that I don’t speak myself,” said the 70-year-old, who was elected to the Bundestag for the Greens in September. In his constituency in Wolfsburg, he will listen to the designated future DGB chairman Yasmin Fahimi, who has been announced at the DGB rally there.

Bsirske has concrete proposals for his longstanding core concern of greater collective bargaining coverage. It should be easier to declare collective agreements to be generally binding in the future. Today, the generally binding nature of the retail trade, for example, where it was often requested in the past, hardly plays a role anymore because of the negative attitude of employers. Bsirske now advocated that if one side rejects the procedure, the procedure should not end as it does today – but that an arbitrator should decide the matter. Whether the employers or the employees are allowed to choose the arbitrator should be decided by drawing lots. “Experience has shown that such a procedure noticeably increases the pressure to reach an agreement,” says Bsirske.

Labor Day on May 1st: demonstrations not digital this time

After the mostly digital events in the past two years, this time numerous people want to take to the streets for a fair working world. According to the DGB, 33 rallies are planned in Hesse alone under the motto “GeMAInsam Shaping the Future”. On the Römerberg in Frankfurt, the deputy chairwoman of the DGB, Elke Hannack, will be the keynote speaker.

According to the trade unions, the burdens on consumers due to inflation must be taken into account in the forthcoming rounds of collective bargaining. The aim is to maintain purchasing power. Most recently, the German economy has proven its resilience during the Corona crisis, which it survived much better than even optimists would have expected. In the current situation, a gas supply stop would have drastic consequences for the economy, the labor market and consumers, said DGB district chairman Michael Rudolph of the dpa. It is therefore also important to push ahead with the energy transition and the socio-ecological restructuring of the economy.

May 1: Unions against expansion of mini-jobs

On May 1st, it should also be about the DGB requirements for the world of work. The trade union federation is particularly critical of the planned increase in the mini-job limit from 450 to 520 euros. This would expand mini-jobs – a “big mistake”. Especially people in precarious employment relationships were the first to lose their jobs during the crisis. Such employment relationships must therefore be abolished.

According to Rudolph, the hospitality industry, in which a comparatively large number of people worked on a mini-job basis before the pandemic, is now lamenting the emigration of employees, is a prime example for the trade unionists. “If we convert these employment relationships, which are disproportionately high in the hotel and restaurant sector, into socially insured employment relationships and also pay them better, then the search for skilled workers in the industry will become much easier again”.

With a view to the refugees from Ukraine, Rudolph called for solidarity. Above all, people need safe accommodation and the opportunity to rest. “If they want it, then it goes without saying that we will give them quick and unbureaucratic access to the labor market,” explained the trade unionist. There should be no two-class society of migrants from Ukraine and from other countries of origin. (skr/dpa)

–