By Stefan Peter
Violence, drugs, impoverishment. The situation in and around Görlitzer Park in Berlin-Kreuzberg is getting worse and worse, complain several residents and initiatives. Nevertheless, they are completely against the fencing of the area planned by the Senate.
On Tuesday, the “Görli zaunfrei” alliance presented its suggestions and demands. Members reported on the untenable conditions around the park. “High-risk consumption has increased,” says social worker Juri Schaffranek. “The drug help offers are no longer enough.”
“There’s a lot of crack around,” says Esther Borkam from the “KiezAnker 36” neighborhood center. Crack is a drug that works within seconds and is extremely addictive. She warns: “The social structure is on the brink.”
Juri Schaffranek (lr) from Gangway, Monika Obrecht, a resident of the Reuter-Kiez, Esther Borkam from KiezAnker 36 and Martin Storck, a member of the Görlitzer Park Council, give a press conference in the children’s farm in Görlitzer Park Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa
“We are simply incredibly helpless to watch the impoverishment,” said resident Monika Obrecht. People walk through the streets high on drugs, and the effects can even be felt in the north of Neukölln. “The situation is frightening. We find excrement in doorways and drug addicts sleep there.”
Martin Storck from the “Görlitzer Park Council”: “When bakery saleswomen go to work in the morning, they have to step over drug addicts who are lying on the stairs at the subway station.” He observes a feeling of insecurity among residents and businesses: “Everything is boarded up, steel doors are being installed.” His conclusion: “The old Kreuzberg no longer exists.” During a recent operation in the park, volunteers found 240 syringes!
Nevertheless, they are all against fencing and closing the park at night. “People can’t just disappear into thin air,” says Esther Borkam. “This will make it even worse. We residents are extremely scared of this fence.” State repression cannot solve the problems.
A sign in Görlitzer Park in Berlin-Kreuzberg Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa
“The market is an information exchange for all refugees who come here,” believes Storck. “Closing the park would just postpone the problems.”
What the activists are demanding instead: work permits for refugees, more seating in the park, more cultural and sporting offerings in the park, more social workers on the streets. Borkam would like more financial support from the authorities: “90 percent of the work with the homeless is carried out by volunteers.” But better lighting and regular cleaning of the side streets around the Görli are also important.
The demands also include around-the-clock care for drug addicts, including “consumption rooms”. But doesn’t this attract more drug addicts? “That can have a certain pull,” admits Schaffranek.