Introduction: The Last Insurrection? Youth, Revolts and Social Movements in the 1980s

Abstract

On 12 December 1980, police officers in the West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg prevented squatters from occupying an empty house on Fränkeluferstrasse. The police intervention escalated an already tense situation and sparked spontaneous demonstrations and riots that lasted more than two days. The cover photo of this book shows a scene from that first night: two police officers had left their van, guns drawn, to keep a group of demonstrators in check, but other protesters subsequently moved in and knocked over the police van. The West Berlin squatters soon named the episode the ‘Battle of Fränkelufer’, and the riots became the starting point of the West Berlin squatters’ movement. Before the ‘battle’ the city counted 18 squatted buildings; by June 1981 that number had risen to 165.1