German riot police clearing out one of Berlin's last squats clashed with protesters in pitched battles today, reviving memories of fights that brought down a local government in 1990.
More than 2,000 police were deployed to clear the squatters out of the apartment building in the eastern Berlin district of Friedrichshain, a former working class area that has become trendy since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
"The people attacked, beat and sprayed fire extinguishers at the police officers," a police spokesman said.
Police, wearing helmets and riot gear, moved to clear out the squat after a local judge rejected a last-minute appeal by its residents yesterday. Nine people were arrested by police in the barricaded squat.
Police used axes and sledgehammers to enter the apartment house, which was barricaded with razor wire, sharpened metal poles and concrete blocks.
An estimated 1,000 protesters backing the squatters assembled along a main thoroughfare near the building.
The protesters cut off traffic at a major intersection for about two hours, throwing stones and bottles at police.
The eviction of the squat - known as "Liebig 14" for its address - has come to symbolise the fight of the city's large left-wing alternative scene against gentrification.
"It's not a good day," Franz Schulz, the district's mayor, told a local radio network. "We will be losing an important alternative project."
Protesters plan more demonstrations against the eviction throughout Berlin today.
Berlin became a haven for squatters taking advantage of abandoned buildings after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Squatters, the city and real estate investors have fought often over rental contracts and evictions in the past decade.
The Liebig 14 house was first squatted in 1990. The current owners cancelled the squatters' rental contract and all attempts to fight eviction in courts have failed.
A centre-left government in Berlin under Social Democrat (SPD) mayor Walter Momper collapsed in 1990 due to a dispute with their Greens party coalition partners over the clearing of another squat in Berlin.
Reuters