Liberation Day in Berlin: Memorials, police bans, and pro-Russia bikers
Friday, May 9
Thousands gathered across Berlin on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. The day was shaped by remembrance – and by an unusually visible police presence, brought in to enforce a ban on Russian flags and other symbols at Soviet memorials.
Roughly 40 events took place in Berlin, most of them calm and ceremonial. At the Neue Wache memorial, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, newly-installed Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner laid wreaths. Meanwhile, Brandenburg’s Minister-President Dietmar Woidke used a separate event to denounce the rise of right-wing extremism in Germany. “The least we owe the survivors,” he said, “is our support in that fight.”
The day’s main address came from Steinmeier in the Bundestag, where he sharply criticised Russia’s war in Ukraine and warned of democratic backsliding in the United States. No Russian or Belarusian diplomats were invited.
The Berlin police, who deployed around 1,900 officers to a commemoration at Brandenburg Gate, spent the day enforcing a court-approved ban on Russian flags and St. George ribbons – the latter still worn by Russian diplomats, who are exempt. Eight people attempted to hang pro-Russian banners from a nearby building just after 6:00am. Police filed trespassing charges. At the Tiergarten memorial, a man waving a NATO flag was removed. In Treptow, a wreath bore a message in Ukrainian colours that read “against invaders” – though this was allowed to remain.
The Night Wolves, a nationalist Russian biker gang, also made an appearance yesterday, on their annual “Victory Ride” from Moscow to Berlin. This year’s stops included Soviet memorials in Brandenburg, where they were watched (but not blocked) by local police.
