Thursday 16, February
On Thursday, there were 533 new Covid-19 infections reported in Berlin. The seven-day incidence currently stands at 57.0 cases per 100,000 people.
Controversial police station at Kottbusser Tor opens despite protests
Yesterday at Kotti, 350 police officers accompanied Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) as she opened the controversial new police station in the building above Adalbertstrasse. 50 metres away, demonstrators gathered to voice their opposition.
The proposal for a new police presence at Kottbusser Tor has been generating controversy for a while now, with critics complaining that it would lead to the further gentrification of the area. Among the demonstrators was Die Linke MP Ferat Kocak, who told the Tagespiegel that he thought the plans drawn up by the SPD aimed to push people “out of the city centre in the interest of big business profits.”
The new facility cost 3.24 million euros to complete. It will be guarded around the clock, is fitted with safety glasses, and contains an interrogation room, but no cell.
