Berlin students block two schools to protest education cuts and military spending

On Friday morning, students at the Andreas-Gymnasium in Friedrichshain and the Leibniz-Gymnasium in Bergmannkiez erected barricades, sealing the school gates with cable ties, fences and trash bins. Organized by a Berlin school-strike alliance under the banner “School strike against conscription,” the action attracted about a hundred demonstrators, according to police estimates, and was supported by members of the Left party, the youth group Solid, the “Class against Class” initiative and the education union GEW.

Protesters displayed banners linking their cause to French school strikes and condemning cuts to education and social programs, as well as German arms exports. Police initially arrived with thirty officers, later increasing their presence, and opened investigations into alleged assaults on officers and a resident injured while a trash bin was taken. The governing mayor condemned the blockade as a breach of democratic norms, while a teacher welcomed the exercise of protest rights. The demonstration ended around 1 p.m. after an agreement that the blockade would be dissolved and continued as a marching protest.