NEWS FROM BERLIN
Mohrenstraße can be renamed
The Mohrenstraße in Berlin-Mitte may be renamed after years of legal dispute, announced the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court. The street can now be called Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße. Born around 1703 in what is now Ghana in West Africa, Amo was abducted to Germany as a child, where he became the first known philosopher in the country. An application for an appeal was rejected, meaning that the ruling is legally binding. The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) announced that if the street is renamed, the subway station of the same name will also change its name. Source: rbb24
What happened to policeman 24111?
During pro-Palestinian protests in Berlin, a police officer is said to have been seriously injured by the demonstrators, being dragged into the crowd and trampled. The case became a topic in the Bundestag. The video, analyzed by the research agency Forensis, part of the Forensic Architecture network, shows a different picture than the one presented by the police. Süddeutsche Zeitung and NDR were also able to view and examine it. According to the police, 24111 is still not fit for duty. However, if officers were handled very roughly, an analysis of the footage displays that police officer 24111 was not pulled to the ground, but rather was attacking protesters himself. Source: SZ
NEWS FROM GERMANY
Number of right-wing extremists in Brandenburg rises substantially
Right-wing extremists are on the rise in Brandenburg, according to the latest report from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. A total of 3,650 people were recorded—almost 20% more than in the previous year, as reported by Interior Minister René Wilke (no party) at the presentation of the 2024 report. Of these, almost half are classified as “violence-oriented,” whose number has risen by 130 to 1,430. On the other side, the number of left-wing extremists remained at 550, unchanged compared to the previous year. Source: rbb24
German schools should limit spaces for migrant kids, according to minister
On show Politikergrillen (“Grilling politicians”), host Jan Burgard pressed Germany’s Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) as to why German schools had recently performed so poorly in the OECD’s PISA assessment. Prien said that this was due to the mix of children in the school system and that many refugee children in Germany start school with insufficient German skills. Burgard then told Prien that the Danish government requires schools in areas with a high proportion of migrant-background children to pause pupil applications to attract more “ethnically Danish” students, which she presented as one route for the country. Criticisms came from a broad political spectrum. Source: iamexpat
Deutsche Bahn commuters still have to wait
Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced it intends to extend the comprehensive refurbishment of particularly important routes until 2036. The general overhaul of more than 40 busy lines in urgent need of refurbishment will therefore take at least five years longer than originally planned. Previously, these projects were all due to be completed by the end of 2030. The upcoming general refurbishments will affect, among others, the Hamburg-Berlin line from August 1. The Lübeck-Hamburg and Frankfurt-Heidelberg corridors, previously planned for 2027, will also be postponed. Passengers will now probably have to put up with the dilapidated network and the resulting high level of unpunctuality for much longer. Source: dw
More than 100 people remember murder victim Rahma A.
More than 100 people remembered the dead Rahma A. from Algeria in Hanover on Thursday. A neighbour is said to have stabbed the 26-year-old to death in an apartment building in Arnum near Hanover on July 4. The young woman had been living in Germany for two years, worked in a hospital and wanted to start training as a nurse. The background for the crime is still unclear, with a possible racist or Islamophobic motive. Source: t-online
Lieferando: 36-hour strike
The Food, Beverages and Catering Union (NGG) is trying to convince Germany’s largest delivery service to sign a collective agreement for its 6,000 employees—so far without success. This is set to change: NGG wants to force Lieferando to the negotiating table with a “nationwide wave of strikes.” “Especially after the high inflation of recent years, a collective agreement is more than overdue,” said NGG head of department Mark Baumeister. The starting signal was given on 11 July in Hamburg with a 36-hour warning strike, with further warning strikes to follow. Source: fr
