Berlin police deployed approximately 130 officers in a major operation to secure the eviction of a partially occupied residential building in the city's Mitte district near the Federal Intelligence Service and Natural History Museum. The operation, which has now concluded, saw police officers don protective helmets after protesters launched pyrotechnic devices from windows of the Habersaathstraße building complex during morning demonstrations against the clearance.
The extensive police presence included 50 officers directly at the building site with additional personnel securing a nearby demonstration and managing traffic flow. According to police statements, approximately 70 people participated in the assembly protesting the eviction, with authorities taking two men into custody during the operation—one for making illegal calls to protest and another for resisting officers. Both individuals have since been released from police custody.
Authorities confirmed that a court bailiff was executing multiple court-ordered eviction notices covering twelve apartments within the building. Police provided support for the enforcement of these legal orders as needed. Initial reports indicated two residents had voluntarily left the premises, while subsequent information revealed that ten of the twelve apartments were already unoccupied at the time of the operation, with one eviction order unable to be properly assigned within the building.
The police operation has now concluded with the building being returned to its owner, ending a years-long dispute over the largely vacant residential block in central Berlin. Criminal investigations remain ongoing in two separate cases involving violations of Germany's Explosives Act related to the pyrotechnic incidents during the protest activity.
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