May Day Tourism in Berlin
Anti-Capitalist Tour Guide Offers Riot Sightseeing
The May 1 riots in Berlin's Kreuzberg district have become an annual ritual in the German capital. Now an American anti-capitalist activist has started giving tours of the neighborhood's hot spots to foreign visitors.
He calls himself Bill, though it goes without saying that it's not his real name. And he doesn't want any photos taken of his face. He is, after all, a left-wing extremist.
We are standing next to Kottbusser Tor metro station in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, in a trash-strewn square in the shadow of an elevated section of the subway. If things go as Bill and the rest of the German capital expects, stones and bottles will be flying here in a few days' time as part of the city's annual May 1 protests.
Bill is wearing cargo pants and a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Die Yuppie Scum." The T-shirt is the sign the tour group were told to look out for at the arranged meeting-point underneath the railway tracks. Two dozen people are waiting for him.
Bill says they'll set off in a moment -- after he's collected their money.
The Highlight of Spring in Berlin
Bill is a left-wing extremist who came up with a money-making scheme. He offers tours of the sites of "the famous May Day riots", sometimes in English, sometimes in German. Bill is American, so he finds the English tours easier to give. They also attract more people.
He hands out flyers advertising "revolutionary Berlin" and featuring a picture of Berlin's iconic television tower and a communist red star. The tour even has its own website and Facebook page.
Today's tour includes visitors from New Zealand, Ireland, Russia, and Italy. Their ages range from early 20s to early 30s. Many of them have recently moved to Berlin. They wear brightly-colored scarves and large sunglasses, but just for reasons of fashion, not to conceal their identity. None of them object to being photographed. The May 1 protests in Kreuzberg are simply another exciting aspect of their adopted home that they would like to find out more about.
An American anti-capitalist, who goes by the name Bill, has started offering tours of the sites of the May Day riots in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. Here, people on the tour stand outside the district's famous "Köpi" building, a former squat which is now a left-wing center and shared house.
May 1 protests in 2009: On tours, Bill explains the legend of the first May riots. He says it was just a peaceful street party on May 1, 1987, until the police turned up with teargas, triggering a "neighborhood uprising."
There are several demonstrations planned throughout Berlin this May 1. The most controversial, however, is the neo-Nazi march. Here, on April 24, people protest against a right-wing extremist demonstration. Left-wing groups have planned a blockade along its route.
Not everything is violent on May 1. A peaceful counter-festival called Myfest has been organized in recent years to protest the street riots (2009 photo).
In Bill's version of events, the pattern is basically the same, year after year: People demonstrate, the police attack the demonstrators, and violence breaks out.
Bill sees the tours themselves primarily as a political project, a way of explaining and promoting the revolutionary Labor Day protests.
A burning car is a rite of spring. Two of Bill's tour-goers put it this way: You have to have been to a May Day demonstration in Kreuzberg at least once in your life.
Anti-Capitalist Tour Guide Offers Riot Sightseeing
The May 1 riots in Berlin's Kreuzberg district have become an annual ritual in the German capital. Now an American anti-capitalist activist has started giving tours of the neighborhood's hot spots to foreign visitors.
He calls himself Bill, though it goes without saying that it's not his real name. And he doesn't want any photos taken of his face. He is, after all, a left-wing extremist.
We are standing next to Kottbusser Tor metro station in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, in a trash-strewn square in the shadow of an elevated section of the subway. If things go as Bill and the rest of the German capital expects, stones and bottles will be flying here in a few days' time as part of the city's annual May 1 protests.
Bill is wearing cargo pants and a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Die Yuppie Scum." The T-shirt is the sign the tour group were told to look out for at the arranged meeting-point underneath the railway tracks. Two dozen people are waiting for him.
Bill says they'll set off in a moment -- after he's collected their money.
The Highlight of Spring in Berlin
Bill is a left-wing extremist who came up with a money-making scheme. He offers tours of the sites of "the famous May Day riots", sometimes in English, sometimes in German. Bill is American, so he finds the English tours easier to give. They also attract more people.
He hands out flyers advertising "revolutionary Berlin" and featuring a picture of Berlin's iconic television tower and a communist red star. The tour even has its own website and Facebook page.
Today's tour includes visitors from New Zealand, Ireland, Russia, and Italy. Their ages range from early 20s to early 30s. Many of them have recently moved to Berlin. They wear brightly-colored scarves and large sunglasses, but just for reasons of fashion, not to conceal their identity. None of them object to being photographed. The May 1 protests in Kreuzberg are simply another exciting aspect of their adopted home that they would like to find out more about.
An American anti-capitalist, who goes by the name Bill, has started offering tours of the sites of the May Day riots in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. Here, people on the tour stand outside the district's famous "Köpi" building, a former squat which is now a left-wing center and shared house.
May 1 protests in 2009: On tours, Bill explains the legend of the first May riots. He says it was just a peaceful street party on May 1, 1987, until the police turned up with teargas, triggering a "neighborhood uprising."
There are several demonstrations planned throughout Berlin this May 1. The most controversial, however, is the neo-Nazi march. Here, on April 24, people protest against a right-wing extremist demonstration. Left-wing groups have planned a blockade along its route.
Not everything is violent on May 1. A peaceful counter-festival called Myfest has been organized in recent years to protest the street riots (2009 photo).
In Bill's version of events, the pattern is basically the same, year after year: People demonstrate, the police attack the demonstrators, and violence breaks out.
Bill sees the tours themselves primarily as a political project, a way of explaining and promoting the revolutionary Labor Day protests.
A burning car is a rite of spring. Two of Bill's tour-goers put it this way: You have to have been to a May Day demonstration in Kreuzberg at least once in your life.
