May 1st, bomb threats, the OSCE conference on anti-semitism and terrorism

These are eventful days in Berlin.
Yesterday the Hilton Hotel in Berlin's scenic center was evacuated due to a bomb threat. It seemed very serious. After like 5 hours the search of the Hotel was stopped without result.

It is being speculated whether this was a bad joke or maybe connected to the two day OSCE conference on anti-semitism that will begin tomorrow. Or was it an Al-Quaida threat?

We don't know yet.

One thing is for sure, the police will not rest these days. On Labor Day (May 1st) there will be burning cars, pillaged stores barricades in the streets, flying stones, teargas and the like... one has to say: the same procedure as every year.


Usually our troubles here have something to do with the NAZIs but on May 1st, they are our least problem.

Every year, radical left wing extremists come from all over Germany to Kreuzberg (traditionally left wing part of Berlin) to fight.

Who are they fighting, you ask? The state, the government, capitalism, you name it. They feel like revolutionaries, I believe. It's bad. Better be out of Kreuzberg on this day.
Actually it all starts the night before. Because it is the "Walpurgis Nacht" That has to do with heathen witch craft traditions. It is rather complicated. (Careful: my assumptions are coming up.) Somehow the radicals seem to find it apealing that there may have been a sub culture of wise men and women who where declared witches and burnt by the establishment in order to keep them down. And probably the radicals feel like this is happening to them so they celebrate the night when the witches supposedly had held their "annual conference" on a certain mountain. Funnily, there is more than one mountain rumored to be the meeting point.

Anyway, in that night fires are burnt in the city and people fire each other up for the coming fight with the police.

The saddest part of this is, that it has become something of a tourist attraction for spoiled teens who get their kick from it. Last year I heard, that the riots would probably not have been very bad if it hadn't been for those kids who fueled them up by often being the first to throw stones at the police. The kids would have been disapointed if everything had been peaceful.


Traditionally, there is also a skinhead rally. Usually just a few hundred carefully separated from the left wing radicals by the police.
The skins march on May 1st because the Hitler government was very fond of the holiday.

By the way, Kreuzberg is not only traditionally left wing but also the part of town where most turkish immigrants live. However, they have nothing to do with the riots.


EDIT: Maybe I should add that many people celebrate Walpurgis Nacht just for fun and are not at all involved with the May 1st riots.