A truck has killed twelve people and injured 48 others pouncing on the crowd of the Christmas market on the Breitscheidplatz, on Monday night.
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two weeks ago, Danny went on this place of Berlin without a weapon nor uniform. the ” calendar “, ” said the young man 28 years of age. Tuesday 20 December in the evening, he is in work clothes. In the aftermath of the attack that caused the death of twelve persons, all mowed by a truck, he is back on the Breitscheidplatz. In front of him, the memorial church, in front of which the vehicle has finished its run, and in which the identity of the driver remains unknown, although the organization islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack Tuesday evening.
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A day will be sufficient. A few hours to transform into a place of crying in this place that the locals appreciated it until then, each December, to stroll on its Christmas market. the ” I was there to go for a walk, drink mulled wine, eat Bratwürste “, remembers the police officer. The main threat would then have the features of ” pickpockets ” likely to rob ” the numerous tourists, not a lot of French, English, that mix of ordinary Berliners.
” Here strolls Berlin. “ The commercial slogan, now off topic, still appears on the façade of a building. The lights of signs, and the mall was followed by that of the candles, chapels ardent lying here and there on the floor. The one near the cinema ” Zoo-Palast “, which has now reopened its doors, the other side of the Waldorf Astoria, the luxury hotel continues to welcome its tourists. Behind the dial of the church of Remembrance, a different logo, however, continues to light up the sky in berlin : the one, circling above a building, the firm Mercedes.
A attack in the heart of Berlin
The attack was targeted at the ” heart ” in Berlin, the title-page, tabloid-local BZ, including the new parade also on the monitors of the metro trains. The heart of West Berlin, more exactly. Just off the Kufürstendamm, often considered as the equivalent of the Champs-Elysées. The ” Kudamm “, as named Aynur Demir, 45, “ of Turkish origin but born and raised in Berlin. “Of the muslim faith, this Berlin-based loved also walking around on the market and ” eat or drink ” in the stands today, ravaged.
inside of a restaurant, this maid is eating a bowl of noodles. On the other side of the glass, in the cold winter, dozens of Berliners are relaying to honor the memory of the deceased, or make posters, like this one in English : ” The light is stronger than darkness “. ” I have come to bring a rose and a candle, explains about Aynur Demir. I walk here often to make purchases. Here, I can find everything. “ The Berlin-based live Wedding, a neighborhood most disadvantaged. And she comes up here to the gigantism of the ” KaDeWe “, Kaufhaus des Westens (shopping mall of the West).
Bank, restaurant, luxury hotel. Near the zoological garden and its metro station always so crowded, the area around Breitscheidplatz had already had this image of a time where a wall once separated Germany into East and West. ” For me, this area represented a freedom of consumption, freedom of shopping, all that “, says Ricardo König, 33 years old, who grew up in East Berlin. the ” the fall of the berlin Wall [in 1989], it is here that I made my first purchases at the West… of chocolates “, remembers with a smile the child of the former German democratic Republic, now a social worker in a reception centre for refugees.
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” there’s a new “war” on “
in Front of a glass of wine, some have little desire, little the strength to seek explanations. Julia Kühne is just recovering from the scene in which she tells of having attended yesterday : ” The bus in which I found myself was behind the truck, so I’ve seen everything “, assures the farmer of 29 years. Rather than seeking an explanation of the symbolic in the place of the attack, she sighs and says, ” there were a few police officers, then, for a truck, easy to drive up to the Christmas market… ”
” In shock, ” Mme Kühne has felt the need to come back on-site, in the company of loved ones. 18 hours. The church bells of Remembrance resonate. the ” A particular church “, adds her friend Lisa Durhack, 26 years old, teacher. The second world war had left this place of worship in a state of desolation. the ” The church symbolizes the ruins of the war. “with A sigh, and then : ” And now, again, there is the “war“ “. quotes to say it all. The dread of a city where, yesterday evening, we celebrated again the season of Advent.
On the place Breitscheid, named in 1947 as a tribute to Rudolf Breitscheid, a leading social democrat, killed by the nazis three years earlier at Buchenwald, a pastor Pankow and some of the faithful have made the trip to play tunes to the glory of God, under the banner in English ” Pray for Berlin “. A place where the cry of a man pierces sometimes the silence by saying ” Merkel must go ! “, a way to attribute to the chancellor the responsibility for the events. ” She can’t do anything “, reply, in a low voice Ihbo Ziegler, 39 years old, employee in the sector of information technologies, among the silent crowd.
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