Update
The Berlin event has now been cancelled by the organisers, so the protest rally will also no longer take place.
Thursday, July 25
Protests set for Berlin visit of Ukrainian far-right “Azov Brigade”
The programme for the Berlin event taking place this evening at the Hotel Continental – Art Space in Exile promises “informal communication with warriors who have destroyed the enemy on the hottest fronts”, “real stories from the front line and military humour”. Tickets cost €20, and there is space for 180 people – although the event is not actually listed on the website of the Hotel Continental art centre that is hosting it.
Likely, that’s because this event was always going to attract controversy. This Berlin meet-up is part of a European recruiting and publicity tour for the Ukrainian Azov Brigade, a far-right military group who have been shown repeatedly to glorify Nazi crimes. Just last week, an Azov fighter posed for a picture in front of a barbed wire fence at the former Auschwitz concentration camp wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan sometimes attributed to Hitler: “Where we are, there is no place for anyone else”.
Left-wing activists are calling for Hotel Continental to cancel the event. Writing on X, Berlin politician Ferat Kocak wrote: “Berlin does not need additional meeting points for the extreme right and no militaristic propaganda, not even under the guise of solidarity with the Ukrainian people. The tour has already been cancelled in other cities after protests, I hope that will happen in Treptow too.”
A protest has been scheduled for this evening at 18:00, outside the Hotel Continental on Elsenstraße in Treptow.
