The working group of critical lawyers (AKJ) at the Humboldt University in Berlin has filed an urgent application with the Berlin Administrative Court against the alcohol ban in James Simon and Monbijou Park in Berlin-Mitte. This was announced by the student initiative on Friday afternoon.
The ban is not about protecting the green spaces. This is an advanced argument by the Mitte district office, which issued the ban. “It’s really about activism and the displacement of young people and other people who can’t afford to go to an expensive, hip bar,” said the spokeswoman for the left-wing working group, Stefanie Richter. Young people have hardly any opportunities to meet in non-commercial spaces.
“Even the homeless and people who have already been pushed out of the city have hardly any alternatives. It is cynical to push these people out of public space and thus make them invisible,” continued Richter. The ban on alcohol in Monbijoupark is “populist nonsense”.
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At the request of the Tagesspiegel, a spokesman for the administrative court confirmed that the urgent application had been made to the chamber responsible for green spaces. It is not yet clear when a decision will be made.
At the end of July, the Mitte district imposed an alcohol ban in James-Simon-Park and the adjacent Monbijoupark. It was said at the time that this was a reaction to the repeated party excesses. It is therefore forbidden to consume and carry alcohol in the two parks between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The general decree based on the Berlin Law on Green Spaces is limited to September 11th.
In the past few months, hundreds of people have gathered in James Simon Park in the evenings and at night. The police had to move out and clear the park several times after there had been robberies or serious bodily harm.
