This story will start from Saturday night (26th of Oct), but elements of this 'mess' have been around for years.
So the fire department in Leipzig got a call....small fire activity in the area of Connewitz. Renovation area (construction zone) fire.
They arrive. The fire is put out. Cops and firemen are satisfied. Then they pack up and leave.
Fire is re-started. Yes, amazing enough....the 'gang' wasn't finished yet.
What the police say as they arrive for the 2nd time....roughly a group of fifty people in some anti-social activity...firecrackers involved, and things being thrown (both beer/wine bottles and paving stones).
Some folks are getting injured and this is getting way out of hand. Even the police cars, parked along the disturbance area....are being damaged by the paving stones and bottles.
Cops go into action and a number of folks are arrested. One guy was arrested for throwing things at the police, but the other dozen-odd folks arrested...were mostly on the charges of drug possession (yep), resisting arrest, and insulting the police. Germany has a nifty law on insults to the police and it doesn't take much to cross the line for that 'trouble'.
Here's the thing....this is the 4th fire in Leipzig in the past month in the renovation zone. Right now, the contracted team figures a minimum of 15 million Euro of damage done, with the insurance companies likely in a hyped-up fit over this reoccurring.
This now leads back to the political establishment in Leipzig and the finger-pointing over what is going on here. It's added weeks and months onto the construction project, along with cost escalating, and likely high demands for more protection along this zone.
I sat this morning and reviewed the 'character' of Connewitz (this community of Leipzig). It's on the south end of Leipzig. Half of the suburb is the 'wild' part of town (an authentic wooded area and a animal park with deer, bison, etc). The other half of Connewitz is a place that was left out of serious renovation and work since the Wall came down thirty years ago.
Locals will say that the community now amounts to 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters, and filled with an odd group of residents. Some are the older generation who grew up there....some are university students....some are anarchists or wannabe-anarchists.....and some are the down and out crowd.
The city authority decided (probably more than five years ago) to put some projects up and Connewitz was going to be something different in the future. So here lies this problem because one element of the small suburb is the anarchists (left-wing and anti-capitalists). They were happy with the 'look' of their region and didn't want the city messing up the appeal of Connewitz.
You can be amused by this stance, but thats basically what has led to the 15-million Euro of damage, is extending the construction project into months, and probably even an extra year or two, and will depend greatly from this point on additional security/police action.
From what MDR (the public TV folks from this region) says....the city has called up the German national terrorism center, and they want federal action. What'll happen now? The anarchist element is going to have some database created and members are going to likely end on some 'watch-list' and federal charges will be recommended as they proceed down this path.
More fires? Oh, I'd wager that will be part of the story for 2020. The mayor might even beg off another couple dozen cop positions for his city. And there's likely to be some little 'battle' erupting from this future path plan.
All of this leads me to the 'kettle boiling' topic. There is continually in Germany today, this element of the country who wants to lead you to their version of a utopia and paradise, and another element who is on the road to their utopia and paradise, and these two groups refuse to participate in joint projects. And the public is in the middle....mostly amused or frustrated.
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