Görlitzer Park | AfD in the »Görli«: Attention is (not) a solution

At the entrance from Skalitzer Straße to Görlitzer Park, the final chorus of Die Ärzte's anti-Nazi classic, "Schrei nach Liebe," booms. The part where singer Farin Urlaub raises his voice an octave and screams one last time: "Your violence is just a silent cry for love! Your combat boots yearn for tenderness!" And then: "Ohoho, asshole!" Chanted along by representatives of the Kreuzberg Greens, the Left Party, and local anti-fascist groups.

The approximately 120 anti-fascists who gathered there from 9:30 a.m. onward were greeted by two men in suits, complete with bodyguards and umbrellas, instead of combat boots. Despite their bourgeois appearance, the message applies equally to them: "Görlitzer Park still belongs to us, fascists remain unwelcome!" This is how one participant summarized the failed attempt by two AfD politicians. After only 15 minutes, they were escorted back to the exit amid whistles and shouts of "Nazis out!"

Blows to the chest

The deputy chairman of the Berlin AfD parliamentary group, Thorsten Weiß, and his party colleague Alexander Bertram, also a member of the House of Representatives, had invited their parliamentary group to conduct a "site inspection" of Görlitzer Park on Tuesday to gain a "firsthand impression" of the park, which has been at the center of urban social conflict and media attention for months . They stated that they were interested in the crime situation and cleanliness there. The invitation, which the representatives requested was not to be made public, was made available in advance to "nd" and other media outlets. Anti-fascist groups, The Left Party and the Greens Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, were also aware of the event and registered the demonstration, which was held under the motto "Against Right-Wing Incitement."

In the park itself, the MPs were met by around 200 counter-demonstrators, who accompanied the demonstration with loud protests. "The police then formed a cocoon around the MPs and repeatedly struck from there, with targeted blows to the solar plexus. People were thrown over bicycles, one narrowly missed a steel edge with his head," recounts a member of the "feminist Antifa" group, which calls itself Panayotta. "Then they allowed themselves to be filmed at the exit and, so to speak, enjoyed the crowd. They wanted attention and to put on a show."

Youth mobilized

Whether the invitation was perhaps intentionally leaked remains unclear. However, it's part of the AfD's tried-and-tested strategy to exploit social outrage mechanisms to spread its positions. Panayotta is also aware of this, and she immediately criticizes Green Party MP Ario Mirzaie, who, a few meters away, is recording anti-fascist chants for social media with a few young people: "Now the Green Party member comes along and stages himself, even after everything's over. This is just folklore, with these guys here in their tube scarves."

While some might consider a Green Party member rewarding the AfD's attention-seeking strategy, Elif Eralp, who sits in the House of Representatives for The Left Party, considers it a success of the protest if the attention reaches people who then become active in anti-fascist activities: "It was great that so many young people were there. Earlier, students in the park asked me where the rally against the AfD was," she told "nd." "So it was a successful day."

The background to the AfD demonstration is the policy of the conservative-red Senate around Görlitzer Park . It wants to build a fence, close the park at night, and thus curb drug trafficking and violence. Many residents criticize this as symbolic politics that only shifts real problems to the surrounding streets. Alternative proposals therefore include prevention programs or drug dens. AfD representatives took the Senate's law-and-order initiative as an opportunity to spread their own narrative with a position paper ("Görlitzer Park – Eyesore of a Capitulating State"). This allows the AfD to profit from the "scattering fire that the CDU started," as one protester put it. "Ultimately, I don't know if we're doing the AfD a favor by protesting, but we can't let it go unchallenged either."