[Gipfelsoli Newsletter] May 28th 2007, Heiligendamm

[International Newsletter]

May 28th 2007, Heiligendamm

- ASEM-G8 Protest in Hambug
- Ticker-HH 28.05.07 english
- Anti-G8 protesters clash with police in Hamburg
- German Federal State Prosecution Supports Escalation of G8 Protests
- G8: On German media coverage

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ASEM-G8 Protest in Hambug

5,000 people march in Hamburg against the ASEM and G8
Energy to protest the G8 grows with preperatory march in Hamburg. Today there
was a large march Against the European Union economics ministers and Asian
economics ministers from ASEM.

The march gathered at 12:00 and police were all around. The march was permitted
and had been organized by the Autonomen or radical "black block" style
activists. There had been good work with other groups and thousands of other
people came as well. When the route was all settled with police the march
started. Sound vans made constant announcements and kept us informed about what
was happening. They also played music to get us pumped up.

The march had 4,000-6,0000 participants and there were up to 5,000 cops. So the
odds were not good of getting away with much. The march was surrounded on all
side by a wall at least two thick of riot police. Dozens of water cannon tanks
and armored personnel carries with bulldozer blades stood by.

The march was led by a "black block" of over 1,0000. In Germany it is illegal to
cover your face but everyone dressed in black with hoods, hats and sunglasses.

Police controlled the rate of the march but the marchers jumped and ran for bits
and had fun. Several times flares or fireworks were shot up. At one point police
tried to squeeze the march and were resisted. They peppersprayed the crowd on a
street called Peper-something. The march continued and was stopped by water
cannons in the road several times but then went on again. There were also stops
for speeches.

The organizers finally decided to end the march early as a protest of police
tactics. There had been arrests and other harassment. The march began to
disperse but cops blocked the street. People tried to break through then
eventually sat in the street. Others left through spaces at the sides. Several
more arrests were made.

Many people headed back to the Rota Flora social center. Eventually hundreds
outside built barricades. Hundreds of cops came and this led to several hours
of minor barricades and some thrown objects and cops blocking streets. The
police blasted with their water cannon tanks. By 8:00 the situation was calm
again it seems.

Indymedia timeline: http://de.indymedia.org/2007/05/178833.shtml

mainstream German news with pictures:
http://www1.ndr.de/nachrichten/asem/asembilder2_org-asemindex2.html

[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/05/28/18422072.php]


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Ticker-HH 28.05.07 english

Today is the day of the international demonstration against the ASEM summit in
Hamburg. After a wide international Mobilisation and Court Appeals against the
route and the organisers the demonstration starts fom Millerntorplatz , moves
on along Reeperbahn, St. Pauli Fischmarkt, Hafenstraße, Baumwall to the
Rödingsmarkt. The police protects the city centre with massive presence, media
reports that appr. 4000-5000 police are in Hamburg today.

* 18:55 In Lippmannstraße reports of several arrests. Police stops and checks
identity of people around Rote Flora.
* 18:46 a car with deligates was stopt by appr. eight activists in city centre
(Bergstr/Mönckebergstr) One person got arrested for makeing photografs of the
police. city centre is quiet now, situation around Rote Flora is still not
relaxed.
* 18:00 police uses water cannons at the Rote Flora
* 17:54 In front of the Flora people are moving fences on the street, a fire is
burning.
* 17:53 The Rote Flora (Convergence Centre) closes its doors because of the
massiv police presence in the area
* 17:47 Ca. 300-400 cops at Neuer Pferdemarkt with water cannons & tanks
* 17:40 Another arrest near station Reeperbahn. Infront of the Rote Flora 200
people gather.
* 17:37 11 police cars at Pferdemarkt, cops walk towards Rote Flora.
* 17:18 Most people move towards Karolinenviertel.
* 17:15 Fsk: the demonstration is scattered between St.Pauli und Sternschanze,
the police as well, which moved more forces into the area because of the
confusing situation.
* 17:06 between Ludwig-Erhardt-Straße and Millerntor a new demonstartion is
formed, cars are demaged, traffic signs destroyed. one policeman drew a gun.
people are on the way to Sternschanze.
* 16:48 FSK reports that most of the people are moving towards Millerntorplatz
now. Some incidents between police and smaller groups were reported from
Ludwig-Erhardt-Straße. In direction harbour people are able to move freely.
* 16:43 The legal team confirms that the demonstration is partly penned and it
is hard to leave.
* 16:34 The police provocates and tries to force people to leave the
demonstration into a specific direction which is not possible (because of
police lines)
* 16:20 the organisers of the demo declared the end of it because of constant
poliuce provocation. there was another smoke bomb and radio FSK reports that
the demo is penned.
* 16:02 demonstration is at Rödingsmarkt15:35 police briefly penned some people
at the end of the demonstration. nobody arrested.
* 15:30 Uhr the demonstration is split up into two parts. the front part is at
the Baumwall allready while the other is at the Cap San Diego (a ship in
Hamburg harbour).
* 15:05 the demonstration moves on towards Rödingsmarkt.
* 14:45 The demonstration arrives at Landungsbrücken (St.Pauli) and makes an
interim stop for speaches.
* 14:19 after a smoke bomb was thrown the demonstration is still in front of the
squatted Hafenstrasse-buildings. seperate sources speak of 6000 people.
* 14:13 the demonstration is in the Hafenstraße. Police walks in front and at
the sides of it in 3-4 rows.
* 14:02 one arrest is reported.
* 13.53 police stops the demo again. radio reporter reports that some riot cops
who followed the demo hit demonstrators.
* 13:35 demonstration stops around Talstrasse. Police has water cannons placed
at the end of Reeperbahn.
* 13:10: the demonstration is about to start.
* 13:05: so far around 4.000 protesters at the demonstration.
* 12:55: demonstration hasn't started yet, mood is good, colorful protesters,
speeches are being held.
* 12:24: solicitors confirm that the people who got banned from the city centre
after yesterday's Reclaim The Street Party can join the demonstration.


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Anti-G8 protesters clash with police in Hamburg

Thousands of protesters marched through the German port city of Hamburg Monday
in a dry run for demonstrations against next month's G8 summit on the Baltic
coast, with some of the crowd clashing with riot police afterwards.
The protest groups, ranging from leftists to church activists, complained at the
huge force of riot police flanking the march on both sides. Organizers had
called off the protest halfway through, saying the police had obstructed them.

"This mobile cordon is a disgrace," said an organizer, Andreas Blechschmidt.
"It's certainly not reducing tension. "

Police had blocked streets near Hamburg's ornate town hall, and told the crowd
of 4,000 to turn back.

A court had earlier confirmed a ban on the marchers coming within 500 metres of
a city hotel, the venue for the two-day Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) of foreign
ministers beginning Monday evening.

Most protesters left, but radicals fought with riot police, who used jets of
water fired from riot-control trucks to disperse them. Police said they made
several arrests.

About 1,000 in the crowd were black-clad leftist radicals from several European
nations, police said. The radicals wore balaclavas and protective clothing to
keep themselves anonymous in clashes.

The radicals had said on a website that they aimed to "disrupt" the meeting
organized by the "totalitarian, capitalist" European Union, which they charged
was aiming to "exploit" Asian nations.

Ralf Meyer, a police spokesman, denied the police were too restrictive. He said
police had to respond to the threat to disrupt the meeting, and the police
presence was not directed against the peaceful demonstrators.

The protest movement, which also included labour groups critical of
globalization, said earlier the Hamburg demonstration would be a curtain-raiser
to protests at the June 6-8 summit of the Group of Eight in the German resort of
Heiligendamm.

Many in the crowd wore colourful, carnival-like costumes and were protesting at
a German police investigation of petrol-bombings in Hamburg and Berlin in
recent months. They said the inquiry had treated the whole protest movement as
if they were terrorists.

On Sunday evening, police had broken up an unregistered demonstration by 100
radicals in the city and briefly detained 53 after they tried to erect a
barricade across a street.

Germany currently holds the presidency of both the European Union and the G8.
The ASEM meeting is the biggest gathering in Germany linked to Berlin's EU
presidency. dpa jbp sc ch


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German Federal State Prosecution Supports Escalation of G8 Protests

G8 summit protestors harshly criticised the comments of the Federal State
Prosecutor Monika Harms about the planned G8 protest camps. In different media
Harms defended the raids of 40 houses and political projects that happened two
weeks ago with supposed "workshops in the camps that prepare people for
blockades and militant actions" during the summit protests.

"Once again, the state is producing an escalation spiral," according to Jo Smith
of the International Press Group Media G8way. The statements of Harms stigmatise
all globalisation critics, and follow the logic of intimidation and
criminalisation of the movement during the past weeks. After house raids,
permanent controls and observation, she makes the people who will live in the
protest camps during the next weeks appear to be suspected terrorists.

 "The protest camps in Rostock, Reddelich and Wichmannsdorf are finally
constructed after months of difficult negotiations with the local and police
authorities. About 20,000 summit protestors are expected to live in the three
camps," explains one of the camp organisers. "After making our life hard during
the negotiations and preparations, the federal state prosecution now claims that
these are training camps for terrorists. The workshops Harms is mentioning,
however, are precisely designed to practice de-escalating behaviour towards the
police during blockades. Her statements lack any reliable knowledge about the
reality of the protests."

Similarly misleading are the statements by the Federal Minister of Justice,
Brigitte Zypries. In the daily news programme "Die Tagesschau" (The Daily Show)
she said that the previous raids of the houses of summit protestors had nothing
to do with the preparations of the summit protests. "In the search orders,
however, it was literally written that the searches are necessary to guarantee
Germany's reliability towards its G8 partners," according to organiser Jo
Smith.

Also, leading officers of the federal criminal investigation department have
admitted already that the reason of the searches was to know more about the
anti-G8 protest scene. "Obviously, the anti-G8 mobilisation does not provide
sufficient reasons for justifying the raids afterwards." The federal government
demonstrates in this way that it does not have any interest in approaching the
resistance against the G8 summit democratically nor through de-escalating
measures. "This way, the government brings more damage than some burned cars
ever could. It attempts to scare demonstrators and prevent them from taking to
the streets," says Smith. "But we do not assume that this strategy will work
out. All the attempts to criminalize the movement have so far led to an even
stronger solidarity and mobilization against the politics of the industrialized
states.

All neighbours and journalists who want to get an impression of the camps in
construction are cordially invited to the Opening Day on Thursday, 31st of May,
starting from 2pm in Reddelich and Wichmannsdorf, and on Friday, 1st of June in
the camp at the Port of Rostock.

[Media G8way]


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G8: On German media coverage

I would like to give you a short roundup of a discussion which is at the moment
taking place in german press before the g8. I think that press coverage is an
important factor to the success of the summit. Reading the international press,
this discussion is not being reported outside Germany. I guess the last
information on this list about the current situation in Germany - were the
mails about the raids and the demonstration ban. Here some more information
besides this.

The growing repression against the G8 protests shows astonishing results.
Instead of applauding the actions of the states most parts of the liberal and
left press bring almost each day an article on the repression against the
protest and sometimes criticizing heavily the police's/state's policies and
actions as not adequate and breach of constitutional rights, creating a general
mood more positive towards the protest than towards the police.

It all started with the raids. The press first was applauding, but from the
second day on they started criticizing the action and making fun of it (as some
of the searched were 60+ and as others had been informed beforehand about the
repression and as some part of the raid aimed at the publishers of a book which
has been published for already five years). Later on some newspapers were
starting to question the need for those raids and the aim of it. Was it to
frighten? (which they criticized as anti-democratic). And thanks to the press
the raids show results which haven't been expected. Strenghtened by the press,
as they claim that the raids strengthen the protest, the protest is
strengthened, like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Another thing which made the press think was, that nobody was arrested. They are
asking. If those people are really dangerous terrorists - why let them run
around freely - if they are not dangerous, why those raids?

The second step was, that the minister of interior Wolfgang Schäuble (Christian
conservative party) announced, that protesters might be arrested
preventively/preemptively. There came a second outcry in the press - as this
affects the right to demonstrate, which is officially a basic right in the
German constitution.

The third step was the ban of the demonstration around Heiligendamm and the
airport Rostock Laage. A new outcry followed. Referring to a court decision of
the high time of the protest against construction of nuclear power plants
(which granted demonstrators the right to demonstrate in audible/visible
distance to the addressee of the protest), large parts of the liberal press
defended the right of demonstration (some even said, that this right has to be
granted, even if violence can be awaited).

The fourth bigger thing was the news that the German police took from some of
the raided odor-samples. This caused another outcry, as this is a method which
has been used by the Stasi (the GDRs intelligence apparatus - known now e.g. by
the movie: Das Leben der Anderen - The lives of others). Some politicians now
started to compare the means of the policies with those of the Stasi (which is
a strong accusation in Germany) and some newspapers followed.

And just today newspapers announced that the police has been opening letters to
find 'claims of responsibility' after some more fires had been burning cars).
This is also heavily attacked, as the privacy of correspondence is also an
'untouchable' right of the German constitution.

All those news are seen just as a further part of the legislations which have
been passed as anti-terrorist laws since the 70ies and again stronger after
9/11. As for example online raids of computers, a central data base of
fingerprints...

All together those news create now an atmosphere which helps the protest on one
side, as people are now sympathizing with the protest, in order to defend
'democratic liberties'. The problem of this support is: nobody is really
talking about the contents of the protest anymore, why are we against, why
demonstrating - this is not as important to the press at the moment, as the
question: are we still living in a democracy?

Therefore the manifestation on the second might be in large parts also a
demonstration against the state repression and against a police state.

But the positive effect of the press coverage are:

- the press is regarding the protest rather positively, which is supported by a
rather press work from the protest (though they very often also mention, that
this is only for the peaceful protest, but there is no real gauntlet for the
more radical parts)
- the press tries to understand why people are demonstrating and doesn't create
as much, as during other summits, the picture of barbarians destroying
everything, and instead give space to some protesters to express themselves
- the discussion about violence from demonstrators is not in the center. the
press rather criticizes the police actions and the police's efforts to
criminalize the movement or to divide it shows no results (though i don't know
whether this is a result of the press coverage, or of the long collaboration of
large parts of the movement)
- several papers claim that the police is escalating and fear another Genoa (but
now seeing thereby the Genoa riots rather as a response to police escalation)

The above described is mostly spread by supra-regional papers of liberal or left
orientation mostly read by intellectuals in larger cities. for sure, not all
articles are positive, but above written in my opinion describes the basic
tenor of the discussion.

To the region around Heiligendamm:

I can't really tell how it is in the region of the protest. This region is the
hindmost German province where people never have been facing such a big protest
and are partially extremely frightened by it, whereas the police helps to create
fears.

Maybe somebody living in the region can write some lines about the sentiments /
mood there.

[http://de.indymedia.org/2007/05/178706.shtml]