Police Brutality Ahead of Talks
The German police took to the offensive, even before the meetings begin.
Police gearing up. Is this necessary?
3 Policemen taking down a protestor
Policeman 2512 stomping on protestor
Blasting the water canon at 2 persons holding a banner
Sneaky bastard attack
We come in peace and will not be intimidated.
Meanwhile, having Africa on the agenda has been a headache for the German government. Their concern is that the only story on the G8 and Africa will be about broken promises and how delivery of the 2005 pledges is disastrously off track. In the past few weeks, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has been looking for a good news story - an announcement of an increase in German aid of around €2bn (£1.35bn) is likely - to mask the fact that the G8's agreement in Gleneagles is in danger of falling apart. It has gone to the wire, with still no agreement on how to word the commitment to the 2005 deal. More "sherpa" meetings of officials will be held today and tomorrow ahead of the summit opening on Wednesday.
Technorati Tags: G8, Germany, Police, Violence and Protest.
Labels: G8, Germany, Police, Protest, Violence
German Police Use Stasi Scent Profiling on G8 Protestors
This is getting more and more absurd
!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$!@!@#$
Stasi scent-tracking methods are being used to keep a check on selected protesters planning to demonstrate at next month's G8 summit.
Scent traces collected directly from everything from people's palm sweat to their vests and cigarette lighters have been made available to investigators so that sniffer dogs can detect potentially violent protesters, federal prosecutors confirmed yesterday following reports in the German media.
"This has happened to several suspects," said Andreas Christeleit, a spokesman for the prosecutors. It is believed that most samples were collected during recent early-morning raids across Germany.
The revelations have immediately led to comparisons with the methods of the former East Germany's secret police, the Stasi, who habitually collected the scents of dissidents to identify suspects at a later date. It was thought that such chilling espionage techniques had been consigned to history.
But the news that similar methods are to be deployed at the upcoming summit in a democratic Germany has further angered activists already fuming over the construction of a 7.5-mile barbed-wire fence around the venue, at Heiligendamm on the Baltic coast.
"[This is] another step away from a democratic state of law towards a preventive security state," said Petra Pau, a member of the opposition Left party. "A state that adopts the methods of the East German Stasi robs itself of every legitimacy."
But according to experts it is as legal as collecting fingerprints. Scientists looking to expand the use of smell banks say it is possible to determine someone's age, their sex and any illnesses they might have through traces of their body odour.
A 68-year-old atomic energy protester from Hamburg, identified by police as a possible danger to the G8 summit, reported how investigators knocked on his door at 8am and demanded scent samples from him.
The man said he was made to hold metal pipes in his hands - as palms give off an immediate scent - which were then sealed and marked with his name before being taken away.
The police have responded to the reports by saying that they are trying to find out the sender of letters confessing to 14 arson attacks in the Hamburg and Berlin areas which are believed to be connected to the anti-G8 movement. They hope that a scent register will help them to do so. Police say they suspect that the same people are planning fire bombs and other attacks on the June 6-8 meeting.
Summit opponents are trying through the courts to lift a ban on a so-called "star march" planned at Heiligendamm on June 7, introduced after an interior ministry decision to prevent protesters coming within five miles of the resort.
The number of car burnings in Berlin has risen considerably over the past fortnight as tension rises, as have incidences of anti-G8 graffiti.
Technorati Tags: G8, Germany, Stasi, Profile, Protest and Protestor.
Labels: G8, Germany, Profile, Protest, Protestor, Stasi
Day of Oppression in Germany
Over 800 policemen were involved in raiding 40 left-wing political objects with the support of 20 public prosecutors.
Whilst German television channels reported live from the razzias in the big cities, according to the populist press farms in Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg and Niedersachsen were also affected.
Several reasons were given so far for the raids, which nevertheless seemed to centre on and affect mainly infrastructure and logistics around the protests against the G8 summit.
Raids have taken place in:
Berlin (at least 8 places):
- Bethanien, two offices (Mariannenplatz)
- Mehringhof, bookshop Schwarze Risse (Gneisenaustr.)
- Umbruch Bildarchiv (Lausitzer str.)
- Fusion Laden (Skalitzer Str.)
- SO36.net (with the servers being raided)
as well as flats in Adalbertstraße, Manteuffelstr. and Wissmannstr
Hamburg (at leat 5 raids):
- Rote Flora ( G8 convergence centre and social centre)
- various housing coos (in Ludwigsstr, Talstr, Julius-Leber-Str. and Seilerstr)
A spontaneous demonstration in Hamburg lead to 16 temporary "arrests" (or whatever it is now legally called when you are not charged but taken by away by police) and injuries were caused by police crawing batons.
Bremen:
- housing project AllaHopp (in Hardenbergstr)
Some affected groups have already released press statements critisising the raids as state oppression in order to criminalise dissent against the G8.
Technorati Tags: G8, Germany and Raid.
Labels: G8, Germany, Raid
We come in peace and will not be intimidated.
