A Police democratises itself

Diskussionskommando Berlin

Quotations of contemporary witnesses

Franziska Eichstädt-Bohlig - The Green Party: "It was more than just a battle about West Berlin, it was a fight for the future of the republic. I remember, for example, how the horseback unit used to chase you in those days and how scared you were by the horses. Nowadays that sort of behavior by the police is inconceivable."

Michael "Bommi" Baumann - ex street fighter:

"It was the first demonstration, and surprisingly, all of a sudden it was 1500 people rallying in front of Amerikahaus. No one – really no one! – had expected so many. The idea had been like 300 folks, that would have meant big success. And then some people smashed some eggs against that building. And off goes the big hullabaloo – that's actually how these anti Vietnam war demonstrations and campaigns started here in Berlin." <Quoted from a tv interview, "Stilbruch">

Frankfurter Rundschau (West German liberal daily) 1966

"This weekend, a demonstration of 2000 students and young people in West Berlin against the Vietnam war ended in severe clashes between police and demonstrators. As the rally deflected from the mandatory route, police took to hitting demonstrators at random with their bats, confiscating posters and tearing them to pieces on the spot. 74 students and young people were arrested,  55 protest signs were confiscated.“

Frank Zappa after a concert at Berlin Sportpalast (the very place of Goebbels'

total war speech) October, 1968:

"The boys have raggy-shaggy beards and the girls wear pearl chains and funny

clothes. But they are Nazis like her fathers and mothers, they behave like Nazis.

The problem is that they think they are a New Left."

 

Egon Bahr in his autobiography "Zu meiner Zeit" (In My Times):   

 "The Berlin Riot Police was one of the best professional armies of the world."  

68th Revolt