Overall, it was surprisingly peaceful this year. Mostly because both the police and the extreme left were busy with the neo-Nazi demonstration. They handled it quite well, and the Nazis didn't make it to Kreuzberg. So until 6 in the evening or so, until the Black Block demo came to us, it was sooo peaceful. Music, barbecues, families, children, tens of thousands of people of all possible colours, no incident whatsoever. Then there were some incidents, but compared to last year, insignificant. They burned down a police barricade right next to my house, and about half an hour later, when we were trying to get home, the police wouldn't let us pass anymore, all my street was blocked with barricades. They didn't even want to see our IDs, to prove that we live here. They just shrugged and said that they don't know when they'll let us pass. Luckily later more people came, and at some point we just broke the police chain and went home.
Funny story a guy we met was telling: he went to join the counter-demo, in the early afternoon. When he saw some hundred people dressed in black marching, he joined them, but soon some policemen came and dragged him out. "What are YOU doing here, for fuck's sake, you poor misguided soul?", they asked him. "Demonstrating!", he stated, proud of his democratic right to protest. "That we see, but what are you demonstrating against?". "Gegen Nazis", he said, even prouder. "Shhh", they said, "this IS the nazi demo, not the counter-demo, you fool". Luckily no one around heard the conversation :))
...And when I said peaceful, this is what I meant. The video is taken two bus stations away from my house.
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