The protest comes just days after the German Labour and Social Affairs Minister Andrea Nahles announced the latest Hartz IV labor welfare reforms. The Hartz IV unemployment handout is set to rise in 2017, but the new rates have been criticized as too low and arbitrary. Non-asylum seeker migrants will also be excluded for receiving the benefits.
"Most of today's events have finished. A total of 1,200 police officers were present. Regarding the number of activists, this was difficult to count due to the numerous rallies and demonstrations which were attended by different groups. However, there were around 200 people at 7:30 am [06:30 GMT] in two places, on the Potsdamer Platz and at the Gendarmenmarkt. In addition, another rally was held at lunchtime outside the Labor Ministry, there were about 450 people," an official Berlin Police representative told RIA Novosti.
Minor disturbances took place during the protest, with demonstrators using fireworks and attacking several police officers, the representative added, noting that 52 people have been detained on charges of committing civil disorder.
"Around 1,000 people took part in this morning's Labor Ministry blockade in Berlin. In the afternoon, numerous rallies took place across the city. Now, a protest against the Turkish-EU deal on refugees is taking place on Alexanderplatz, with some 800 people taking part," a Blockupy representative told RIA Novosti.
The police had acted inappropriately, the representative added, stating that numerous demonstrators sustained injuries and one suffered a broken nose.
Blockupy is a pan-European anti-austerity movement which comprises leftist and far-left organizations. Movement members mainly target the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In 2015, Blockupy organized protests against the opening of new ECB headquarters in Frankfurt. Attended by tens of thousands of protesters, the demonstrations were marked by clashes with police in which some 150 police officers were injured.
