Controversial Görlitzer Park fence delayed
The district of Kreuzberg is against it, but the Berlin Senate led by Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) remains insistent that the plan to build fences and gates around Görlitzer Park and close the area to the public at night go ahead. He may get his way, but it seems inevitable that he will have to accept the reality faced by so many building projects in Berlin: long delays.
Originally, the idea was to have construction work to expand the wall and set up gates begin by the end of March 2024, but it now seems as though that will take at least until the summer due to a long planning stage and the tendering out of construction contracts. The entire project, aimed at tacking crime in the area, is slated to cost four million euros – but that isn’t the only reason it has proved controversial.
Wegner made a visit to the area on Tuesday and was met by at least 200 demonstrators holding signs like: “Görli stays up!” Their argument is that this tough-on-crime stance will only move drug dealing to different areas of the city and restrict access to a beloved public space. Debates about Görli have been going for years, but the case was brought back into the spotlight last year when a woman reported that she was raped by several dealers in the park. That case is still ongoing.
