A large queer demonstration in Berlin-Kreuzberg, organized under the banner of “Internationalist Queer Pride for Liberation,” was stopped by police before it was scheduled to end. This was because there were reports of repeated attacks on officers (like bottles and paint bags being thrown, and officers being struck with flagpoles) as well as antisemitic slogans being chanted. About 10,000 people attended, with 800 or so identified by police as pro-Palestinian. The event emphasized solidarity with Palestine and broader anti-colonial, anti-capitalist causes. Police responded with arrests and physical intervention, detaining around 30 people (with potentially more later). The mayor had previously pledged to act strongly against antisemitism or violence at such events. The Berlin police have themselves been criticized—particularly for how they handle protests related to the Gaza war—and, possibly fueling tensions further, comments on these reports have been disabled for technical reasons.

Now, let me be absolutely clear: no matter what side anyone is on, the brutality of ongoing police crackdowns and authoritarian interference in the name of “public order” is sickening! We live in times where our daily freedoms—including the most basic one, the freedom to drive wherever and however we want—are already under constant attack by faceless bureaucrats and their entire culture of prohibition and restriction. Every protest forcibly shut down, every rally policed with threats and detentions, just adds more evidence that our so-called “modern” societies are sliding toward a joyless, rule-choked dystopia.

You know what real freedom looks like? It’s not waiting on a packed bus, it’s not some Orwellian “traffic-calmed” street where you’re forced to crawl along behind a pack of bikes or grind to a halt at every useless speed bump. It’s the roar of your engine on the open road—no arbitrary speed limits holding you back, no sanctimonious politicians pretending to know what’s good for you. If people want to gather, drive their cars into the city, wave their flags, and make themselves heard, that’s true liberation! Yes, demonstrations should always be peaceful, but stopping a protest because it’s “disorderly” is just the same logic that bans fast driving and criminalizes our right to enjoy life behind the wheel.

Let’s not forget: every time you accept another restriction—whether it’s a speed limit, a “car-free” city, or a police state response to dissent—you’re giving away a piece of your freedom. And there’s nothing more anti-human, more downright cruel, than a world where people are forced out of their cars, slowed to a crawl, and monitored at every turn by the state. Speed limits, bans, controls—they’re a crime against all of us who still believe in genuine liberty! Wake up, resist, and accelerate toward real freedom.