[imc-presse] [Int-press-g8] Press Release: “Victory: The G8 has been blocked in!”

[int-press-g8 at lists.nadir.org]

Media G8Way - International Press Group
g8-press-int at nadir.org
49 16092437902 (Alex Smith)
49 015774630348 (Jo Smith)

June 07, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Victory: The G8 has been blocked in!”

Now, with the help of the wind, one of the main goals of the anti-G8 
activists will be reached. The G8 leaders have been confined inside 
their own fence. German newspaper Die Zeit has reported that no ships 
can land at Heiligendamm. With ten thousand protestors currently 
blocking the two gates into the resort, the heads of state and their 
baggage are effectively locked in.

“This is a true success,” explains Lotta Kemper from the G8 
resistance-based Campinski Press group. “We have denied the legitimacy 
of the G8 for us and the rest of the world. We said we would use 
decentralized blockades to surround and blockade them, impede their 
infrastructure and enclose them within their own fence. This strategy 
has been successful for the past two days.”

All day Wednesday and today, protestors blocked entrances to 
Heiligendamm, Germany where G8 leaders were meeting.  Despite having to 
move through fields, forests, and police lines, over 10,000 thousands of 
protesters succeeded in blocking both the east and west gates, forcing 
G8 organizers to call “Plan B,” moving delegates to the conference by 
boat and helicopter.

Yesterday afternoon more than 5,000 protesters settled down at the 
police controlled eastern “Gate 2,” successfully blocking all traffic 
through the gate.  Hundreds spent the night at the blockade, and as of 
18:30 today more than 1,000 remain on location. “The atmosphere is very 
festive,” said one activist, returning from the blockade. “People from 
the neighborhood have been visiting and there are children and families 
sitting down with the blockaders.”

Gate 2, which is the eastern entrance to Heiligendamm, is located at the 
perimeter of the 12 kilometer long razor wire security fence and inside 
of the “red zone,” an area declared illegal for protest by the German 
government.  

At the western “Gate 1” at least a thousand protestors also gathered 
yesterday afternoon setting out from the protest camps in Wichmansdorf 
and Rostock.  They remained, peacefully, until finally being dispersed 
by water cannons and riot police sometime in the evening.  Today around 
9:00 approximately 500 people left the camp in Reddilich to retake Gate 
1.  They succeeded for most of the day, but as of 18:40 have been 
reporting violence from police, and excessive use of water cannons.  

Other smaller groups of demonstrators also moved autonomously through 
the region today and yesterday blockading roads with a variety of 
methods. Altogether, tens of thousands of protesters participated in the 
blockades, arriving from over 30 countries.

-- 
Media G8way does not claim responsibility for the content of the  statements it
distributes on behalf of the groups or individuals  who use its service. Media
G8way is an international press service  for individuals, groups, networks and
(dis)organizations who understand themselves to be part of an independent
radical left movement against the G8.

Contact:
Alex Smith +49 16092437902
Jo Smith + 49 015774630348
g8-press-int at nadir.org
http://dissentnetzwerk.org/node/2669