Berlin streets saw demonstrations by left-wing and extreme leftist groups on May 1, the International Labor Day. This is nothing new, but these year’s celebrations have surprised the police with how calm they were. But it would not be May Day in Berlin if some laws had not been broken.

French police and black-clad anarchists engage in traditional May Day clashes

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The May Day demonstration marched through the Berlin district of Neukölln and Kreuzberg in the evening. The police assessed the number of participants at approximately 12,000, and the organizers at 20,000. Afterward, the demonstrators clashed with police. Nine people were arrested and one officer was injured.

The police assessed the May 1 demonstration as exceptionally peaceful.

“There is much to indicate that this was the calmest May since 1987,” said the police spokesperson.

One incident is being investigated, however, as a group of demonstrators who were waving Palestinian flags had also engaged in chanting antisemitic slogans.

This is not the only antisemitic incident in Germany recently. Several Jewish institutions in Munich, including a synagogue, have received emails containing antisemitic and extremist content.

According to the police, the emails containing “insulting, hateful, and abusive content” were received on April 21. Perhaps not coincidentally, this is the day after the birthday of Adolf Hitler.

The police spokesperson said that the police have established who the sender of the emails was as a 37-year-old individual from Berlin, who will now face charges of hate speech and criminal threats.

“The police has also qualified the deed as a crime threatening state security,” the dpa news agency reported.