Justice
Masked Attackers Have Smashed Nearly 50 Cars in Berlin
They’re claiming the act as a protest against gentrification.
For every raid on a Berlin squat, we will cause €1 million of criminal damage—that’s the threat made by left-wing extremists in Berlin this winter, after a series of police raids on the city’s “occupied houses,” as squats are known locally.
In the past seven days, the extremists proved true to their claim, starting what could be the most destructive single anti-gentrification action any city in Europe has yet seen. On Saturday, a gang of 40 masked vandals smashed up 28 cars in the area near central Potsdamer Platz, leaving some of them in flames. Attacks continued the following night in the southwestern district of Neukolln, when at least 20 more cars were damaged and shop windows smashed in.