Now the A103 motorway will become a concert hall
That has never happened before: the Berlin city highway will be the scene of a concert. The group “Voices of Life. Classical music – political action” will be playing on Thursday on the A103, the Steglitz feeder road in the south-west of the city. The Autobahn in Friedenau will be closed in both directions between the Saarstraße junction and the Schöneberg junction from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. This was announced by the traffic information center in Berlin and the organizer on Tuesday.
The open-air concert on the lane leading into town, which disrupts traffic on this part of the city highway network during rush hour, will feature works by Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Dmitri Shostakovich, Rio Reiser, Ulrich Klan and others. The musicians hope for many spectators.
Berlin left-wing politician criticizes assembly authority
“Making music instead of concreting” is the motto of this form of protest, which is new even for Berlin. The “Lebenslaute” and their fellow campaigners call for a turnaround in mobility and reject the further construction of the A100 motorway. The 16th section of the city ring road from Neukölln to Treptow is scheduled to open to traffic at the end of 2024. After that, the federal government is planning a further extension, which will lead through Friedrichshain in a double-decker tunnel and end at Frankfurter Allee/Storkower Straße.
As reported, the “Lebenslaute” originally wanted to make music on the A100 in Tempelhof. Around 500 listeners were expected. But the assembly authority of the Berlin State Police Headquarters sees the “safety and ease of road traffic” at risk in view of the heavy traffic. With a decision from Friday, she banned the planned rally between the Tempelhofer Damm and Oberlandstrasse junctions. The A103 north of the Saarstrasse junction was one of the offers that the organizer had previously been offered as an alternative.
“We are talking about all steps against the ban on the concert on the A100,” says the “Lebenslaute”. There was a first reaction from Berlin’s state politicians on Tuesday.
“The new motorway practice of the assembly authority contradicts the liberal content of the new Freedom of Assembly Act,” tweeted Sebastian Schlüsselburg, the legal policy spokesman for the Left parliamentary group in the House of Representatives. A “strategic litigation” up to the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin would make sense. “There will probably be a procedure,” said the “Lebenslaute”.