Berlin police search queer project in Kreuzberg, prompting protest of 130

Berlin's state criminal police searched a queer community project in the Kreuzberg district on Sunday evening on suspicion of violations of Germany's Medicines Act, police said. Hormone therapies for gender transition were allegedly administered in the building without medical supervision. Investigators said they seized evidence. According to the taz newspaper, 38 uniformed and plainclothes officers carried out the search on behalf of prosecutors and recorded the identities of at least 21 people, none of whom were accused of wrongdoing, an officer said.

According to its operators, the project campaigns for better access to health care for trans, intersex, nonbinary and queer people. By its own account, it regards the German health system as discriminatory and seeks to combine traditional and conventional treatments. Reports did not initially include a response from the project to the specific allegations, and no further details of the investigation were released.

About 130 people gathered spontaneously the same evening under the slogan "Hormones for all." There were scuffles between participants and officers, and one person was briefly taken into custody. Berlin's commissioner for queer affairs, Alfonso Pantisano, was at the scene. A visitor to the project told taz: "The police raid is an attack on our community."