Masked group sets barricade ablaze on Berlin's Rigaer Strasse

Masked people set a barricade on fire on Rigaer Strasse in Berlin's Friedrichshain district overnight into Wednesday. Unknown individuals dragged rubbish, e-scooters and traffic signs onto the road and set them alight. Residents alerted police at around 11:50 p.m. The suspects escaped unidentified.

Firefighters put out the blaze under police protection. The road surface and a street lamp were damaged. A police spokesperson told the Tagesspiegel newspaper that no one was injured and there was no direct confrontation with the perpetrators. A helicopter search over the rooftops found no one, and road closures were lifted at around 1:30 a.m.

It was not the first such incident. In the early hours of Oct. 8, tyres were set on fire on the same street. Police said officers were pelted with stones from a rooftop and targeted with fireworks, and one officer suffered an acoustic trauma and had to end his shift. The state criminal police office's political crimes unit took over that investigation. The area around Rigaer Strasse is considered one of the last strongholds of Berlin's far-left scene.