Bremen has been fighting the bad image of its main station for years. But despite numerous measures, the situation there continues to worsen and leads to more and more people avoiding the place out of fear.
Every day Svenja Assmann walks along Bremen’s main train station when she goes to work in the morning. But she hasn’t felt safe about it for months. As soon as she reaches the station forecourt, she tucks her handbag tightly under her arm, her eyes are alert, and she says she keeps her cell phone in her jacket pocket as a precaution, so as not to give anyone an obvious incentive to steal.
The alcohol and drug scene, which appears there early in the morning on weekdays, is increasingly frightening her. “I avoid the area entirely at the weekend,” says the 31-year-old.
Many Bremen residents feel the same way as Svenja Assmann. The pandemic has further aggravated the situation. Various aid organizations have restricted or closed their service. Elsewhere in the city, police are busy enforcing the Corona Ordinance. Especially next to the Überseemuseum and in the bus stop area, loud and aggressive behavior by different groups leads to uncertainty.
Bremen: Legal handling difficult
Bremen’s Senator for the Interior, Ulrich Mäurer (SPD), wanted the local law to be amended in order to give the security service and the police better control of drinking at bus and train stops. However, that is legally difficult. There was support from the opposition, among others. So far, however, no agreement has been reached on the regulation in the Senate.
According to the police, there are on average around 50 people around the main station at the same time who can be assigned to the drinking, homeless or drug scene. At the weekends, significantly more people usually gather on the forecourt, which borders on the city’s disco mile.
According to the Bremen police, there are no meaningful figures on the development of crime at the train station this year. “In 2020 we registered many crimes, including a large number of thefts, around the station – significantly more crimes than in 2019,” says police spokesman Niels Matthiesen. Again and again there are clashes in the area, some with serious injuries.
A number of syringes next to the children’s playground
According to the authorities, the crack scene in particular is causing riots and unrest at the train station. What that means can be seen around the Gustav Deetjen Tunnel, which borders directly on the main train station. Not far from a children’s playground, used syringes and other unsightly relics lie on the ground.
Legacies at the Gustav-Deetjen-Tunnel: Used syringes can also be found again and again on the site. (Source: Kristin Hermann)
In addition to the local residents, the neighboring Kreuzgemeinde also has to suffer under these circumstances. People regularly get lost on their property, use drugs there or have sex in public, explains Steffen Kahl, pastor of the church.
Church members are calling for action
There is a lack of understanding among the members about the liberal handling of the city and the police. “We regularly distribute warm drinks and food around the station and therefore have a relatively good overview,” says Kahl. “Whole groups sit alone on the small pedestrian bridge at the tunnel at the weekend and simmer their drugs over a small fire or deal. That’s clearly visible to everyone. It makes you wonder why the crackdown isn’t tougher.”
Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer has repeatedly declared security at the train station to be a top priority in the past. Since then, emergency telephones have been installed that put citizens in contact with the police at the push of a button. In addition, 61 cameras were installed, which accumulate in the police video control center and should enable faster intervention. The problem is by no means solved, as the interior authority concedes. “Despite all the measures taken so far, the situation at the main station is still absolutely unsatisfactory,” says spokeswoman Karen Stroink.
Solution approaches are complex
According to the interior authority, however, there is no single solution to the problem. For example, increased controls and repression would in most cases only provide a short-term remedy. In addition to the police presence, the work of street workers and offers of help is an important component in reintegrating the sometimes sick people into social life. That is why other departments such as the social and health authorities are working on developing solutions.
One component could be the expansion of a scene meeting place accompanied by social workers, which is currently looked after four hours a day next to the Intercity Hotel and is currently alternated with the heat bus by the Inner Mission. There would be 80 to 100 contacts during this time, says Katharina Kähler, head of the homeless aid department at the Inner Mission.
Street workers and scene meetings should improve the situation
Even if one could argue about the location and the appearance of the meeting place – it was compared to a cage by critics after it opened – the street workers there rate the meeting point positively. “But it’s clear that four hours a day isn’t enough,” says Kähler. She would like extended opening hours and more meetings of this kind in order to be able to better equalize and address the different scenes at the station.
In October, the Department of the Interior submitted an action plan to the Senate with further measures intended to bring improvements for visitors and residents as well as people in precarious living conditions.
This includes, among other things, the provision of free toilets, the review of cleaning intervals, the expansion of the scene meeting place, the relocation of the drug scene towards a drug consumption room and a ban on alcohol and addictive substance consumption at the main station. The plan will be discussed in the Senate on Tuesday.
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