Hells Angels ride through Berlin in protest at German crackdown on biker gang symbols

‘Freedom is our religion’: Hundreds of Hells Angels ride through Berlin in protest at the German government’s crackdown on biker gang symbols over fears the clubs are linked to organised crime

• The bikers rode from their club house in the east of Berlin to the Brandenburg Gate in the city centre today 
• Under the slogan ‘freedom is our religion’ they protested against a ban on club symbols over organised crime
• In July Germany banned a Turkish nationalist biker gang over claims it was linked to Erdogan’s ruling party

Hundreds of Hells Angels took to the streets of Berlin today in a protest against the German government’s crackdown on biker club symbols. 

The bikers took their motorcycles to the Brandenburg Gate in the city centre after gathering at their club house in the east of the German capital on Saturday morning. 

Under the slogan ‘Freedom is our religion’, the bikers were protesting against a change to the law last year which banned the club symbols over fears they were linked to organised crime. 

Members of motorcycle clubs gather by the Brandenburg Gate in the centre of Berlin in a protest on Saturday 

A biker makes a hand gesture as he rides away from Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate today along with fellow club members 

Bikers wearing masks and helmets drive away from the Brandenburg Gate towards Berlin’s Victory Column on Saturday 

The government announced last year that the symbols of rocker groups would be prohibited in public over fears they ‘provide a cover for various forms of serious and organised crime’.

Most of the protesters, who were flanked by Berlin police, were riding Harley Davidson motorcycles and were joined by sympathetic members of other biker clubs, the newspaper Berliner Morgenpost reported. 

In July this year Germany banned a Turkish nationalist biker gang following allegations it was involved in organised crime and represented a threat to the general public.

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German authorities said the Osmanen Germania BC group is believed to have ties to the party of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and has been involved in intimidation of his German critics. 

Last month a Hells Angels boss was left fighting for his life after being shot in a drive-by attack at a set of traffic lights in Hamburg, north Germany.

The club member, identified only as Dariusch F, was the leader of its Hamburg branch and was in a white Bentley when a car approached him and gunmen shot him five times before speeding away. 

Bikers from various gangs who were sympathetic with the protest against the biker symbol ban gathered in Berlin today 

Motorcycles are parked in Berlin looking away from the Brandenburg Gate towards the Victory Column during 

The protesters gather by the Brandenburg Gate in the centre of Berlin during the protest against the government crackdown

A man with tattoos attends the demonstration of motorcycle clubs in Berlin on Saturday 

A man pulls Bobby cars behind him while members of motorcycle clubs demonstrate near the Brandenburg Gate today 

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