In the 1980s, the run-down buildings on Mainzer Straße in Friedrichshain were scheduled for demolition and by 1989 the residents had been decanted.

After negotiations failed, the squats were finally evicted two days later on 14 November 1990 by over 3,000 German police officers from three federal states.

The squatters had erected barricades and fought the eviction by throwing projectiles including molotov cocktails.

[7] The events became known as the "battle of Mainzer Straße" and it was the largest civil conflict since the East German uprising of 1953.

[8][9] Several members of the ruling Alternative Liste (Green) party joined the protests in solidarity with the squatters, since the decision to evict contravened the law of the East Germany.

[6] The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Walter Momper, said "whoever shows solidarity with them [squatters], shows solidarity for the wrong people" and Berlin's interior minister, Erich Paetzold [de], commented that the rioters had shown "unbelievable brutality".