Around 11,000 people demonstrate in Berlin against high rents

According to organizers, around 11,000 people took part in the “Give the apartments, down the rents” demonstration in Berlin-Mitte. People of all ages ran, including families with children. 20,000 participants were registered. The police did not provide any information about the number of participants.

Around two weeks before the election in Berlin, the demonstrators marched in the afternoon from the Red City Hall via the Unter den Linden boulevard, Friedrichstraße, Leipziger Straße back to the Red City Hall. On banners there were slogans such as “Your rents are ridiculously high”, “Expropriators expropriate” and “Hands off our homes”. The organizers from the Alliance Against Displacement and Rent Madness are calling for housing for everyone, the socialization of large real estate groups, a rent cap, the abolition of personal use terminations and forced evictions as well as municipal, ecological new construction.

“A new private apartment in Berlin costs an average of 20 euros per square meter. Only the top five percent of the population can afford that,” said Kim Meyer from the alliance. On top of that, the extreme rents for new buildings would raise the rent index in the long term.