You are Not Welcome Here

…Or how to build up frustration

Monday, June 4, 2007. Another demonstration day in Rostock. Migration was the main theme. The group who gathered at the meeting point at 2 o’clock in the afternoon was colorful and festive. Samba drummers and clowns were entertaining the crowd while we were waiting for the demonstration to start. Little did we know, “just wait” would become one of the main themes of the day.

After a while, we were told that the police wouldn’t let the demonstration start because they suspected about 500 people in the demonstration might be violent. The water cannons were parked right behind us, ready to be used.

I rode around, past a police station. A bunch of kids were sitting there, waiting for their friends to be released. They were arrested as soon as they got off the train in Rostock. The police had searched them and decided they were carrying “passive weapons”: a scarf, steel cap boots, walkie-talkies. The “criminals” were brought to a judge, who also found the police officers were exaggerating. He let them go, pointing out: “The cops are going bonkers…”

The demonstration finally started two hours later, only to be stopped a half hour later. Many people had joined in by then, about 10,000 people were waiting once again to find out what the excuse would be this time. “The demonstration request submitted to the police and the city authorities stated that only 2,000 persons would be joining this protest, therefore the city of Rostock will not allow such a big group to go through the city’s center…”, was the official announcement.

The leaders of the demonstration tried to negotiate with the authorities. They were offered an alternative route that went through the suburbs instead of the city. “To accept this route, would mean we accept that the police can impose changes on our demonstration plans at any moment. We now have the choice: either we end this demonstration now or we charge into them”, explained the organizers.

As there were many refugees without an official status taking part in the demonstration, it was very clear to everyone that trying to create riots with the police could lead to their arrest. The group left.

The nearest S-Bahn was out of function, the police was still blocking the rails. We took a shortcut through a park to go to a different train station and got lost in a park. We asked a jogger passing by were the station was. He took a second to take off his earphones and answered: “Piss off, you communist pigs.”