Protest against AfD offices in Berlin-Mitte: Against the creeping normalization

A small podium made from a pallet right in front of the door of the listed former administration building. To the right, speakers sit in front of the entrance to the neighboring bistro. The facade is decorated with a garland. “Mitte loves diversity” hangs in colorful capital letters in front of the window and brightens up the gray-yellow facade. Here, not far from the Jannowitz Bridge in Berlin-Mitte, the AfD will soon move into new offices; an initiative is protesting against this on Thursday afternoon.

The party had to vacate its federal office in Wittenau in September; only the state association of the AfD is allowed to remain in Reinickendorf. What exactly the party plans to do with the new rooms in Mitte is currently unclear, but the federal office should not move in, it was said.

The office space was rented from a shell company of the AfD, Castel del Monte Immobilien GmbH. Renting under company names is a tactic of the AfD. This should help to get better access to real estate, as the party has often had problems with this in the past.

The rally in front of the building is a colorful mix. According to the organizers, around 200 people are protesting against the AfD. In addition to some banners, the flag of the Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime - Association of Antifascists (VVN-BDA) will also be waved. Music is also provided – between speeches someone plays the French horn and “Bella Ciao” ​​is sung rather shyly.

Speeches from the initiatives “Mitte loves diversity” and “Apollo Nö” follow, they call for “resisting fear” and a ban on the AfD. The young speakers talk about the diverse neighborhood in which, despite major differences, everyone agrees: There is no room for the AfD in Mitte.

Specifically, it's about the 5th floor in the office building at Köllnischer Park 1. When the plans became known in July, residents launched the “Mitte loves Diversity” initiative and started a petition for “We Act”. Now almost 25,000 votes were cast against moving in with the landlords. The demand: The real estate agency Arose GmbH should stop renting to the AfD and its sub-companies and publicly position itself against right-wing extremism.

Residents in the house, such as a language school and the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB), are concerned about their own safety: “These are different organizations that are all committed to a diverse society and to the weakest, and the AfD is really contrary to that,” said an employee of the house, who preferred to remain anonymous.

A member of the initiative, who also wishes to remain anonymous, sees the AfD's choice of location as a conscious decision. “The strategy is to locate yourself in the middle of society.” This not only leads to a normalization of the party, which is partly right-wing extremist, but the AfD also wants to present itself as part of the district.

Even before the rally, the alliance handed over the petition, including all signatures, to the Arose company at its headquarters in Dahlem. But the gates there remained locked. The real estate company denied access to the front door, decorated with four surveillance cameras and an automatic entrance gate, after ringing the bell several times, so the activists threw the petition in the mailbox.

Regardless of the success or failure of the petition, the alliance wants to continue. In the future, you plan to better network the neighborhood and create spaces where different people can talk – a kind of “round table”. Everyone is invited to this. “As long as they stand on the basis of democracy,” says a speaker at the rally.