2007-05-16

May 16th 2007 Heiligendamm -- Gleneagles

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German police declare a general ban on demonstrations in designated areas around the G8 summit

Press release International Press Group
Contact: g8-press-int@nadir.org
16th of May

*Restrictions on the right to demonstrate are heavily criticized
*G8 summit protesters announce law suit

The special police department "Kavala", responsible for the security of the G8 summit, has issued yesterday evening a so-called General Ban. This was formally communicated to the negotiators of one of the protest marches. In the past, "Kavala" always has denied plans of such a restriction of the right to protest. Even the website of "Kavala" has stated for months that no restrictions would be placed on demonstrations in the area of the fence. Now it is clear that no demonstrations against the G8 will be allowed in an area of several kilometers outside of the fence.

"There are plans for an area outside of the fence as well as the road network around Heiligendamm for the time frame in question that will be subjected to a ban of association", so the letter of "Kavala".

The order will most likely be signed by Christiane Röttgers. Röttgers works closely with the governmental presidency in Luneburg and has been a central administrator of General Bans during the regular mass protests against the nuclear Castor transports. Now she is working as head of the "Association Department" at "Kavala". She is expected to implement the restrictions of the right to protest in Heiligendamm.

"Kavala" has suspended the release of this order for a long time. Such a practice is well-known from the protests against the Castor transports. "The police are playing with time. This will restrict the possibilities for a law suit against the ban", so the criticism of the protesters.

"All those who officially registered their demonstrations have been misled for months", says the Infogroup Gipfesoli. For months the Association Department of "Kavala" has not responded to several registrations.

Of concern are above all the plans for the "Star March" which intends to have different thematical strands. This, along with several small demonstrations along the fence in Heiligendamm, were registered for the 7th of June. But also the announced blockades of the military airport Rostock Laage will be forbidden under the ban.

Summit protestors have announced their intention to lodge a formal complaint and begin legal proceedings as soon as possible. This drawn out bureaucratic process was certainly intended by the authorities. However, the right to protest in the vicinity of the adressed institution was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court several times in the run up to the events. The most famous case on this issue in Germany is the so- called "Brokdorf judgement" from the period of intense protests against nuclear energy in 1985.

In response to the repressive police measures, the alliance "Block G8" has announced to blockade the G8 summit by means of civil disobedience, notwithstanding the general ban.

***
Maps of the fence and the restricted area: http://gipfelsoli.org/Repression/Allgemeinverfuegung/1654.html

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[Gipfelsoli Infogruppe] Legal Update Heiligendamm May 13th

17.04.2007: police actions against the "walk by the fence" on the 15th of April. Participants: at least 220 (300 according to the media) "Security Forces": two water police boats, one helicopter, two-hundred riot cops, one special arrest squad, and many, many more...

18.04.2007: repression and resistance to G8. The attack on the "Hanse-Gate" office building in Hamburg was related to the G8-summit in Heiligendamm. A Hamburg newspaper received a letter from the "Autonomous Anticapitalist Groups" criticising companies located in the building, and describing the action as "Warm-up" for the summit. On Saturday the 14th of April, persons unknown smashed windows in the building and threw paint bombs, causing damage of several tens of thousands of Euros.

19.04.2007: "Zero-Tolerance against summit hooligans". Hamburg's police chief Janosch has said that he wants to "fish out" the leaders of riots already before they reach Heiligendamm. The end of May will be exciting Hamburg: besides the summit protests, there will be the ASEM conference, and the opening of the contested Wasserturm-Hotel.

19.04.2007: cops raid house project in Potsdam in search of anti-G8 banner. Some 50 cops stormed a house project in Potsdam, basing their action on a court order to impound a banner that had hung off the house. The banner, it was claimed, constituted an incitement to criminal activity.

24.04.2007: careless talk costs lives! Total surveillance in Hamburg: media are being asked not to report militant actions around the G8 summit; an info-hotline for denunciations has been set up; mobile phones are being located, phones tapped, cars traced. Interior minister Nagel: we will soon see results.

28.04.2007: G8 demo in Berlin - police accused of violence. Police are accused of beating demonstrators and intentionally damaging the sound car's equipment. According to the police, the demonstrators wilfully changed their route, so the police had to respond.

29.04.2007: Militant G8 critics to be dealt with harshly. Regional officials in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are threatening militant summit critics with speedy trials if they commit crimes. Foreign violent protesters would be faced with fines from 150 to 2000 Euro, according to a list of punishments developed for the football world cup in 2006. At the same time, lawyers are preparing to support G8 critics for free, fearing infringements of their basic rights. There will be a legal emergency service in place.

30.04.2007: 30 people barred from visiting the fence. The police have already barred 30 people from getting to the fence around the summit location, but now, says Abramovski, they have stopped counting. Around the fence, the mood is decidedly "Big Brother", with video vans patrolling constantly. A resident: I was there when they built the wall. I remember.

30.04.2007: A few weeks ago, interior security tried to recruit a teenager in Lueneburg as an informer. They tried to gain information about the left scene and activities in the town.

01.05.2007: undercover cops get their own special unit. Although it's no news that hundreds of undercover cops prowl the streets of Berlin on the first of May, now they finally get their own special unit: "Intelligence + Intervention". The special unit is likely to be deployed in Heiligendamm, so people are working on identifying them in advance.

04.05.2007: Kavala advertising on TV on radio against protests. The police have been warning of "troublemakers" since their first public event around Heiligendamm. Now they're going to the next level, using radio and TV advertisements. Also on tour: the police's "Infomobil"

05.05.2007: G8: shopkeepers ought to secure their stores. Expecting riots during the main demonstration in Rostock, the police has warned shopkeepers to prepare for the riots by securing their stores.

05.05.2007: Army deployment during G8 summit. While soldiers will not be taking offensive actions during the summit, they retain the right to defend themselves against crimes against the army, as well as the right to self-defence.

06.05.2007: Utrecht/Netherlands: 4 people still in jail after detention of 100 bicycle demonstrators. Press release of the bike caravan info-bureau in Rostock (excerpts) Yesterday, 100 participants in a bike demo in Utrecht were arrested and kept into the night in terrible conditions for not cycling on the bike lane. 4 of them remain in jail today.

06.05.2007: Bad Doberan to be shut off? Signs are intensifying that the town of Bad Doberan will experience severe inconveniences during the summit: inhabitants will have to carry ID on them at all times. People not resident in Bad Doberan will need to carry letters from their employers proving their need to be there. Security experts point out that a strong security concept for the summit would be impossible without shutting off Bad Doberan.

07.05.2007: RAF-debate - internal security service warns of new left-wing terror. Baden-Wuerttemberg's internal security has warned that left-wing terrorism could experience a renaissance in Germany. Militant groups are said to increasingly iconise old members of the Red Army Faction, and increasingly refer to their ideas in a positive way, for example to a letter written by ex-RAF member Christian Klar.

07.05.2007: G8 police chief in a good mood. Abramovski, leader of the police's special "Kavala" unit set up to police the 2007 G8 summit assesses their work over the last two years positively. During the summit he will have 580 officers working directly under him, and command some 16000 officers, at the cost of 100 million Euros. Together with colleagues from abroad, Abramovski will have to police tens of thousands of protesters, a few hundred who will come with less than peaceful intentions, and possibly individuals or small groups treated by the police under the heading "international terrorism".

08.05.2007: Police wants hotel guests' particulars. The police is demanding that particulars of hotel guests staying in and around Heiligendamm should be handed over to them in advance. The police are pressuring proprietors, threatening them with hassle if they do not cooperate.

09.05.2007: Fasten your seatbelts! On the 9th of May, Germany's federal police (BKA) raided 40 locations across the country. 900 officers were deployed to intimidate individuals and left projects. Investigations are being conducted under §129a, concerning the "creation of a terrorist organisation aiming to prevent to the G8 summit". The background to the raids are actions by militant groups against state and commercial property. Only 2% of investigations conducted under this anti-terror law lead to convictions. The prosecution itself admits that the raids were not intended to prevent any concrete attacks, but simply to gather information.

10.05.2007: reintroduction of border controls for the G8 summit. Germany's interior minister has decided that border controls will be re-imposed at Germany's borders with Schengen countries for the duration of and prior to the summit, in order to prevent potentially criminal and violent protesters from entering the country.

10.05.2007: Leipzig: police brutality. A spontaneous demonstration in Leipzig against the arbitrary measures against left structures on 9.5.2007 was massively attacked by police.

11.05.2007: up to ten days preventive detention; regional government sets up mass prisons. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's interior minister pointed out that it was possible in his state to detain potential troublemakers for up to ten days. Later, a spokeswoman for the minister added that the state would certainly make full use of this option during the protests. It was noted, however, that immediately after such an arrest, a judge had to approve the detention, and decide on its duration.

11.05.2007: interior minister threatens preventive detention. Zero tolerance against militant G8-critics: Germany's interior minister Schaeuble is threatening violent extremists planning to disturb the G8 summit in Heiligendamm with preventive detention. Militants could be detained for up to 14 days given proof of a planned crime. He also spoke of a generally increased threat level during the summit: "We should be warned: the terrible attacks in London took place during the G8-summit in Gleneagles."

12.05.2007: Hamburg: mass detention for demonstrators? Hamburg's interior senator Udo Nagel is planning to, if necessary, detain violent demonstrators against the G8. He called on peaceful protesters to distance themselves from violent ones.

12.05.2007: embarrassing glitches in investigations against G8 critics. The SPIEGEL reports that investigators against anti-G8 activists made some embarrassing mistakes: some of the accused were warned of the actions through phone bills, mistakenly delivered letters. Some of the accused are already of pension age, the oldest one is 68. The police thus assume that they are unlikely to have carried out the actions themselves.

13.05.2007: Hamburg: car impounded. Yesterday, the federal police impounded a car parked in a public location, with the justification that anti-G8 info materials were found in it.

13.05.2007: Berlin police scrutinise youth seminar about G8 protests. On Sunday, Berlin police noted the particulars of participants at a workshop about the G8 protests organised by the leftist youth organisation Solid, impounding two mobile phones. Representatives of the Left Party were highly critical of the action.

13.05.2007: After the raids in Berlin: tracking device discovered. Campinski Media Group, press release (excerpts): Three days after the raids throughout Germany, a police-tracking device was found attached to the car of one of the accused members of the authors' collective "AG Grauwacke", supposedly a founding member of the shadowy "Militant Campaign against the Economic Summit". Given that the device had almost certainly been attached to the car for a while, he counsels people involved in the raids to "check their cars thoroughly".

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Get your seat belts on!

On May 9, 2007, the federal criminal police (BKA) stepped up their operations and have already searched 40 residences. 900 police forces were deployed to intimidate individuals and leftist projects. The have opened up an investigation under the German counter-terrorism laws, paragraph 129a "formation of a terrorist organisation for the purposes of impeding gthe G8 summit." The background of these allegations consisted of actions carried out by militant groups resulting in property damage against federal and private property. The paragraph 129a is being used as an excuse to obtain information. Only 2 percent of all 129a investigations lead to actual sentencing. Even the ferderal prosecutors bring the point home:

"The current investigations are intended to provide information about structures and make-up of these groups rather than preventing actual attacks. There is no existing evidence indicating (terrorist) attacks.

A typical "search-and-destroy" mission on the part of the BKA.

[Gipfelsoli Infogruppe]

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German Authorities Impose Demonstration Ban Around G-8 Summit

May 16 (Bloomberg) -- German authorities issued a ban on demonstrations around the seaside town that will host next month's summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, saying protestors' aims to disrupt the meeting pose a threat.
A broad area outside the already secure cordon around Heiligendamm and the local airport at Rostock, in northeast Germany, will be closed off to protestors between May 30 and June 8, local police in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, said today. The summit takes place June 6-8.
``Such disruption of the summit'' would cause ``lasting damage to Germany's international interests,'' the police said in a statement. Protestors have stated aims to blockade the meeting and disrupt its infrastructure, police said.
Authorities have erected a 12-kilometer-long (7.5 mile) barbed-wire fence to protect world leaders including U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the summit.
The ban on demonstrations was criticized by protest organizers as curtailing their right to assemble and criminalizing their legal activities. Tensions with police are already high after German federal and state police on May 9 raided 40 sites as part of investigations into members of a militant group that allegedly planned to attack the summit.
``Just because Vladimir Putin will also be a guest doesn't mean the Interior Ministry has the right to introduce Russian measures,'' Jan Philipp Albrecht, a spokesman for the organization Green Youth, said in a statement. Protestors aiming to organize a march to Heiligendamm on June 7 will now be blocked.
Summit protestors plan to draw as many as 100,000 people to a demonstration in Rostock on June 2 to kick off a series of events during the summit. Police said that 10 events already approved to take place inside the cordon will go ahead.
The G-8 is an international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. Security at international gatherings was stepped up after a series of confrontations starting at a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999, peaking in July 2001 at a Group of Seven summit in Genoa, Italy, when police shot and killed a demonstrator.

[http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aac2LAuvkNd4&refer=germany]

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German Police Declare No-go Zone for G8 Protestors
In a move criticised by left-wing groups, German authorities have said protestors will not be allowed near a Baltic Sea resort where G8 leaders will hold their June summit. August Hanning, deputy interior minister, defended the decision by police to ban protests near the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm during the Group of Eight summit of industrialized nations in June.

"As host of the G8 summit, we have a duty to do everything to protect our guests," Hanning told German public broadcaster ARD. Authorities are building a 12-kilometer-long security fence around the G8 venue. Germany is expecting up to 100,000 anti-globalization demonstrators to target the gathering of world leaders in the plush seaside resort of Heiligendamm in northeastern Germany.

On Wednesday, police in Rostock, a northern German city located just 23 kilometers from Heiligendamm, said all public gatherings and demonstrations within 200 meters (656 feet) of the security fence surrounding the G8 meeting area will be banned between May 30 and June 8 -- the day the summit ends.
From June 2 to June 8, protests and demonstrations will also be forbidden at the Rostock-Laage airport which serves Heiligendamm.

"A real security threat"
Police said the measures were justified because "anti-globalization activists have repeatedly called for a veritable blockade of the G8 summit. "This shows that there is a real security threat for those participating in the summit." The Internet portal of the weekly magazine Stern reported that during the actual summit, demonstrations within a two-kilometer radius would be prohibited. AFP news agency, however, said protestors would not be allowed within a five-kilometer radius of the Baltic sea resort town.
Last week, when Rostock police initially announced its intention to prohibit nearby protests, they said it was to "ensure the area surrounding Heiligendamm would be open for police and emergency vehicles."
Hanning said that police were now aware of "potentially dangerous" actions planned by people who intended to destroy the security fences and disrupt the summit. He said the decision to prohibit public gatherings near the fence was a "legitimate, preventative police procedure."
He also said that the disruptions could not only pose a threat to G8 leaders, but to nearby G8 opponents as well.

Rallies possible elsewhere
Bildunterschrift: Protest at the G8 summit near Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005 Hanning said, however, that German authorities still wanted to ensure that "rallies can take place which aim to criticize the G8 summit and certain aspects of globalization."
Demonstrations which had been previously registered would now be reviewed based on the new ordinance, Hanning said. 60 demonstrations had been registered in all, 10 of which were authorized by police.
But G8 summit opponents are angered. One told AP new agency: "People who have officially registered demonstrations these past few months have been deceived." Summit opponents said it was a constitutional right to be able to protest.

Possible appeals
Opponents have said they will take legal action to appeal the ban, but the organization Gipfelsoli Infogruppe said that the late announcement by police was a delaying tactic intended to make it difficult for opponents to appeal.
The prohibition will affect the "Star March," which had been planned with protestors moving in from different locations to gather at Heiligendamm, where a rally was also scheduled. Smaller protests near the security fences will also be affected.
The decision follows on the heels of a major raid last week on the homes and offices of of left-wing G8 and anti-globalization activists.
900 police officers raided 40 sites in northern Germany linked to left-wing activists believed to be preparing arson attacks and other violent protests during the summit.
The massive security operation was slammed by critics as overblown and an unnecessary show of force by the German state. The operation angered left-wing groups who warned that it only served to mobilize their followers. Some 5,000 people took to the streets of Berlin, Hamburg and smaller German cities in protest at the police raids.

[http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2517595,00.html]

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PMR-Info-Radio

To spread the latest news there will be a PMR-Info-Radio. It´s part of the Infosystem and like Infopoints and Infotelephones it will inform you about the latest news about demonstrations, blockades and actions. You can reach it around Heiligendamm and Rostock-Laage during the Actiondays on Wednesday and Thursday. PMR means "Public Mobile Radio". This are a small type of walkie-talkies that you can legally buy and use. Usually the broadcasting range is about 0.5 km to 5 km, depending strongly on surroundings. But to receive the Inforadio you don´t need to send - the PMR receives the news like a usual radio. Due to norming you can buy the PMR all over Europe for about 20 €, better quality for about 40 €, usually you get two for that price. Make sure that they have a connection for headphones. Inbetween broadcasting times the walkie-talkies can of course be used for communication in between groups in the closer action radius.

PMR-Radio:
Broadcasting days:
* Wednesday, 6th of June
* Thursday, 7th of June
Broadcasting times:
* Each hour at xx:45 in periods of action

We will not manage to be punctual to the second - practice patience
What you need: PMR-Walkie-Talkies

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Call for worldwide public screenings of current video reports about the protests against the G8 summit 2007

We are a network of video activists from Germany. Together with video groups from other countries we will offer daily several video reports and a live-show to download from the new internet-platform http://g8-tv.org in the context of the protests against the G8 summit 2007 in Heiligendamm starting in the beginning of June.
Our main goal is not to show sensational riot- clips but to offer a platform to publicize criticizm against the politics of the G8- states. Our aim is to grant uncensored reports in solidarity with the protest movements. You can look at our concept at http://www.videoactivism.de/g8_en.html
Between May 31 and June 10 we plan at least three daily video-reports of approximately 5 minutes length each and between June 2 and 8 daily after 9 pm 30 minutes life-show in the format OggTheora (www.theora.org). This moderated live talk- and news show will be presented in German and English and include current video clips and interviews with activists.
We are looking for groups and initiatives worldwide who will organize public screenings in public places, cinemas and open tv-channels to show our productions. A high-quality version ready to screen of the live-show will be online daily after 10 pm (Central European Time). In addition we want to offer many of our daily video reports to download in high quality with subtitles in many different languages.

In order to download reports within a reasonable time a broadband internet-connection like DSL will be needed. The ogg-format can be played with the free software VLC (www.videolan.org) or with a quicktime-plugin (http://xiph.org/quicktime/).

We will appreciate your interest in a non-commercial cooperation. Please let us know when and where you plan public screenings so that we can promote them.

With greetings,

Network Videoactivism
www.videoactivism.de
videoactivism@nadir.org

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G8 case collapses two years on

CHARGES against five protesters arrested during Edinburgh's G8 demonstrations have been thrown out of court after two years.
The prosecution case collapsed amid claims police failed to provide video footage said to have been taken at the protest in July 2005.
The five defendants today hit out at the cost to the public purse, which is likely to be tens of thousands of pounds.
The case against the four men and one woman was brought up in court on 12 separate occasions, but eventually dropped on Monday. Solidarity campaigners John Wight and Kevin Connor were arrested on July 6, 2005, with three others, following an impromptu march along Princes Street.
The demonstration started after buses due to take protestors to the official G8 demonstration in Auchterarder were blocked from leaving Waterloo Place.
The march reached Edinburgh's West End, but was turned back by police.
The protesters headed back towards The Mound, where four now-released coaches were leaving the city. However, because the buses were full, the marchers were not allowed to board.
Police decided to invite a delegation from the demonstration to inspect the coaches to prove they were full.
Mr Wight, who had organised the transport, and Scottish Socialist Party's Nick Eardley were the first to be selected.
Mr Connor and his girlfriend Vanesa Fuertes were also picked to accompany police officers.
The four said they were separated from the crowd and once hidden from view, were "pounced on and arrested".
They were charged with public order offences.
Raphie De Santos, an SSP member, was also arrested and faced the same charges of taking part in a public demonstration without having given notice and failing to desist when ordered to do so. Mr Wight, 39, said: "The police stopped us from taking part in a legal demonstration in Gleneagles, so we had no alternative but to protest here in Edinburgh. "I had been organising the buses from the start, so the police saw me as a leader. They wanted to take me out, so they used the excuse of the buses to get me away from the crowd."
Mr Connor, 37, a taxi driver from Meadowbank, said: "It was the first time I had been arrested, and we were really scared. "We were shocked at having been arrested simply for doing something that the police had asked us to do." He added: "What happened since has been a complete farce and absolutely shocking.
"Two years and 12 court appearances later, after spending many tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money, the case concocted against the five of us was dropped. "The two-year delay resulted from the reluctance of the police to supply relevant video footage."
Cameron Tait, Mr Connor's defence lawyer, said today: "There was an ongoing difficulty obtaining video footage allegedly taken by police on the day. "The Crown discontinued the case by not calling it in court on Monday, May 14." Police declined to comment on the video footage.
A police spokeswoman said: "As a result of demonstrations that took place on July 6, 2005 in Princes Street a number of individuals were arrested and reported to the Procurator Fiscal in respect of public order offences.
"The cases were thereafter progressed by the Procurator Fiscal service, which has responsibility for decisions around the prosecution of criminal cases."

[http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=759312007]