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Hamburg hit by May Day riots

The worst May Day riots in the northern German city of Hamburg in years continued into the early morning on Friday, causing police to use force to restore order.

Published: 2 May 2008 08:32 CEST

Hamburg hit by May Day riots

Photo: DPA

Berlin and Nuremberg also saw protests turn violent.

About 10,000 leftist demonstrators waged running street battles in the Hamburg district of Barmbek with both neo-Nazis, who had staged marches earlier, and with the police. Eyewitnesses reported rioters pelting police with stones and firecrackers.

The police used water cannons to disperse protesters, but violence continued past midnight as about 200 people continued to build barricades and burn cars and trash cans.

Police arrested 59 people, of whom all but 11 were juveniles. Twenty-six of about 2,500 police involved and an unknown number of demonstrators were injured.

“The naked aggression and violence originated with the rightists,” police spokesman Peter Born told German press agency DDP on Friday in Hamburg.

German press agency DPA cited eyewitnesses to report several leftists were injured after police struck them with batons when they tried to break through a police line.

After peaceful May 1 demonstrations and outdoor festivals, Berlin – traditionally hardest hit by May Day rioting – also saw widespread violence in the district of Kreuzberg. Rioters attacked police with cobblestones and bottles.

The city’s police commissioner, Dieter Glietsch, narrowly avoided being assaulted by rioters, according to a police spokesman.

Still, police told DPA it was the most peaceful May Day in Berlin in 14 years.

One hundred and thirty-eight rioters were taken into custody in Berlin, and 90 police were injured – an improvement over the 115 police injured last year, officials said.

In the southern city of Nuremberg, lesser clashes also broke out alongside another rally by the neo-Nazi NPD party. Police there kept neo-Nazi and leftist groups apart with barriers.

dpa/afp/ddp

Anmeldung: Berlin to re-launch online housing registration in October

Every foreigner who’s lived in the German capital has experienced the stress of trying to find an appointment at the Bürgeramt, or citizens’ office.

In order to register an address – a process known as the Anmeldung in German – residents generally have to scour a list of available appointments, sometimes waiting weeks for a spot or travelling to a far-flung part of the city to complete the process.

From mid-October, however, the city has announced that people will be able to register and deregister their place of residence online. The Local has contacted officials to ask for the specific date in October that this is happening and will update this story when we receive the information.

According to the Senate, the move will free up around 500,000 appointments that would ordinarily have been taken by the hundreds of thousands who move into and around the city each year.

Berlin had briefly offered online registrations during the Covid-19 pandemic, but removed the service once social restrictions were lifted.

How will the new system work?

The online registration system is apparently based on Hamburg’s system, which was developed under the so-called ‘one-for-all’ (EfA) principle. This means that other states around Germany can adopt the same software as part of their digitalisation efforts.

People who want to register address will need to fill in an online form, provide proof of their new residence and also identify themselves using their electronic ID, which will either be an electronic residence permit or a German or EU ID card.

READ ALSO: What is Germany’s electronic ID card and how do you use it?

After the process has been completed, a sticker for the ID card will be sent out via post.

Aufenthaltstitel

A German residence permit or ‘Aufenthaltstitel’ with an electronic ID function. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Karmann

This can then be used to update the information on a residents’ eID card and access the registration confirmation digitally.

Those who don’t have access to a validated electronic ID will need to either activate their eID function at the immigration office or Bürgeramt or register their address in person.

In 2024, the service will only be available for single residents, but online registration for families is also in the pipeline.

Is Berlin making progress with digitalisation?

It certainly seems like it. This latest move is part of a larger push to complete digitalise Berlin’s creaking services and move to a faster, more efficient online system.

At the start of the year, the capital centralised its naturalisation office in the Landesamt für Einwanderung (LEA) and moved all citizenship applications online.

Since then, citizenship applications have been completed around ten times faster than previously – though tens of thousands of applicants are still waiting for a response on their paper applications.

More recently, the LEA also announced that it had moved to a new appointment-booking system designed to end the predatory practice of appointment touting, or selling appointments for a fee.

Under the new system, many residents permits – including EU Blue Cards – can be directly applied for online, with in-person appointments reserved for collecting the new (or renewed) permit.

READ ALSO: What to know about the new appointments system at Berlin immigration office

Meanwhile, those who can’t apply online yet can access appointments by filling in the contact form, with the LEA hoping that this will deter people from booking appointments with the intention to sell them on.

In another move to speed up bureaucracy, Berlin also opened a new Bürgeramt in the district of Spandau this September, with the governing CDU announcing on X that more new offices would follow in the near future.

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