#404: Cops in court, drug deaths, car racing, podcast
No, we're not getting a Trump Tower
Dear 20 Percent,
Berlin is sliding into the Sommerloch — the “summer hole”, aka silly season. Summer recess began for the Bundestag (German parliament) and its 630 members on Friday so politicians, lobbyists and journalists are beginning to jet off on their vacations. With nobody around to make the normal “news”, the media scavenge for red meat among the crime reports — see below.
☀️☀️☀️ Next Thursday, July 17th, Andrew and I will be hosting our first summer party along with our friends from The Next Day. We’ll be recording an episode of the 20% Percent Podcast on stage with two special guests. And we’d love to get to know you in person over the fine craft beers of Berliner Berg brewery. Grab your ticket, which includes a free beer or alcohol-free drink! 🍺🍺🍺
Maurice
🎙️🎙️🎙️Episode #16 of the 20% Berlin Podcast just dropped… 🎙️🎙️🎙️
Trump Kreuzberg
Local Die Linke politician Nicklas Schenker posted this on Instagram a few days ago. The joke contains only the tiniest kernel of truth. Urbane Mitte Besitz S.à.r.l., the Luxembourg-based company behind the Urbane Mitte development consisting of 7 office towers (scroll up) at Gleisdreieck, is largely held by Periskope Partners, which is partly owned by tech investor Christian Angermayer, who in turn has “connections to right-wing US billionaire Peter Thiel” — himself famously a key backer of Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. The “connections” are unclear — and there’s no risk of golden escalators in the Kreuzberg park. But the project should be criticised for other reasons, namely it doesn’t foresee any residential units on the huge site. The developers say a 2005 contract provides assurances for their project but building seven office towers up to 90m high on such central real estate seems like a dumb move in the era of remote work and acute housing shortages. The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg council opposes the plan, but the city government has overridden them and given the go-ahead to the first 2 of 7 towers.
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Cops in court
The trial of an ex-cop accused of “violent assault in office, deprivation of liberty, coercion and persecution of an innocent person” began this week. At 2am on a summer night in 2021, a man known only as Abdul M., rang the bell at the Alexanderplatz cop shop to report being mugged. The accused officer first allegedly slapped the man’s gesticulating arm. When the victim complained to other officers, the first cop proceeded to hit him, pushed him to the floor, and continued to assault him — while three colleagues held him down. The victim reportedly lost consciousness. That night, the police officers filed charges against Abdul M.— but by 6am one of the officers had filed a complaint about the abusive cop’s behaviour, but justified it by claiming Abdul M. had thrown a lighter and phone at him. Thankfully, the perp-cop was fired years ago due to unrelated bad behaviour.
Car chaos
According to Berlin's chief public prosecutor Andreas Winkelmann, there were already 448 cases of illegal car racing and reckless speeding on the streets of Berlin in the first half of 2025, down only slightly from the first half of 2024. In all of 2024, the authorities recorded 923 cases — the suspects were almost all young men between 18 and 30. Two weeks ago, a reckless driver in an Audi Q5 hit and killed a 65-year-old pedestrian in Köpenick.
And another depressing stat…
Last year saw a record number of drug-related deaths in Berlin - 296 people died of overdoses in the city, 23 more than in 2023. Germany as a whole saw a drop in deaths but Berlin bucked the trend. The authorities say synthethic opioids in particular contributed to the rise in deaths. Crack cocaine has also undergone a resurgence over the past few years.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🏳️🌈 Extreme right targets Pride events
🛢️ The Brandenburg town once dependent on Russian oil
🚀 German spacecraft carrying human ashes lost in Pacific
🐶 Dog survives locker ordeal in Bavarian castle
Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin
🎹 Heroines of Sound Festival
Thu-Sat, 10–12.07, from 5 pm. Radialsystem, Holzmarktstr. 33, 10243 Berlin. Tickets: €8–€55
It's a bold celebration of women in experimental sound. From Alexandra Cárdenas to Rojin Sharafi, this year's edition fuses electro, live art, and noise.
🎸Patti Smith Quartet
Friday, 11.07, 7 pm. Zitadelle Spandau, Am Juliusturm, Berlin, 13599. Tickets: €73.55.
Fifty years after Horses, Patti Smith returns with her quartet for a rare summer open-air tour. At 78, still fierce, tender, and luminous on stage—a poet, punk, and shaman in one.
🍔 Bite Club – Streetfood Open Air
Friday, 11.07, from 5 pm. Arena Berlin & Badeschiff, Eichenstr. 4, 12435 Berlin. Tickets: €5
6 bars, 18 food traders, DJs, and riverside sunset vibes. Bite Club brings the perfect mix of street food, sun, and sounds to kick off your weekend right.
🌍 Rave The Planet Parade 2025
Saturday, 12.07, 2 pm – 10 pm. Strasse des 17. Juni, between Brandenburg Gate and Grosser Stern.
Techno takes the streets again! Berlin's loudest love letter to electronic music returns with floats and beats. Highlights: Robert Owens and Cherry a.k.a. BreakNtune (Bam Mobil float); Kids Rave float; fka.m4a (Docklands/Fusion ); Nicole Moudaber (Technopia float).
Factoid
The city’s economy department has opened up an office in Indian tech hub Bangalore in an effort to promote Berlin companies in sectors like fintech, healthcare, AI and renewable energy in South Asia. After New York and Beijing, the Indian office is the city’s third overseas outpost. Ties to India are becoming ever more significant. The city’s Indian community grew to 41,000 by the end of 2024, four times larger than 2014.