Anarchists riot in Rostock

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2007-06-02 03:50pm

AN ORGY OF VIOLENCE AS G-8 APPROACHES

German City Rocked by Violent Riots

At least 146 police were injured and dozens arrested in the northern German city of Rostock on Saturday afternoon during a major protest in the run-up to Wednesday's G-8 summit in the nearby resort town of Heiligendamm.

Protestors and police clashed in the northern German port city of Rostock throughout Saturday afternoon in the run-up to next week's G-8 summit. News agencies reported that 146 police were injured, 25 seriously, in the melee between anarchists and left-wing radicals and the thousands of police amassed at the scene. Police in the city reported the arrests of 49 protesters suspected of violence.

Police fired water cannons on violent activists as protestors torched cars in scenes reminiscent of the mass protests in the suburbs of Paris, France, just over a year and a half ago. By early, evening, however, police reported that calm had been restored in Rostock.

Two planned marches in the city, which is located near the Baltic Sea resort Heiligendamm where the leaders of the world's seven largest economies plus Russia will meet on Wednesday, remained mostly peaceful. But a parallel event held by violence-prone activists at the city's port quickly turned ugly. Organizers of the event said that a police car parked in the middle of the protest area had riled fanatic protesters.

Anarchists set fire to cars and set up make-shift barricades using trash cans. In several parts of the city, full-on street battles raged between protesters and police, who were equipped with safety helmuts and Billy clubs. According to media reports, protesters threw bottles and Molotov cocktails at police and smashed the windows of police cars with bats in what resembled a complete orgy of violence. Officers responded by shooting water cannons and tear gas into the crowd.

Police estimate that about 2,000 anarchists descended on the city. They were greeted by 5,000 officers deployed to keep peace in Rostock.

'No Justification for Attacks on People'

Organizers of a peaceful protest in the city, which included performances by top German bands as part of a cultural program to complement the protest marches, quickly distanced themselves from the anarchists. "There is absolutely no justification for attacks against people," said Werner Rätz, an activist with Attac, one of the major mainstream groups that is critical of globalization and the G-8 summit. The riots in no way "represent our sentiments."

Many of the tens of thousands who had come to Rostock for the peaceful protests fled the scene in panic. Dozens were arrested and long lines of ambulances had to be brought in to treat protestors -- most of whom suffered from tear gas-related complications.

As protesters set the first cars on fire, one speaker walked onto the protest stage and spoke for the militant scene. "We need to put a little bit of war into this protest," the demonstrator said. "We can't achieve anything with peaceful means." The speaker then evoked the spirit of the G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy in 2001, where militant protesters clashed for two days in bitter street battles with police. In the mayhem of the battles, police shot and killed the 20-year-old Italian protester Carlo Giuliani.

During the protests, police repeatedly stormed deep into the demonstration area, pulling out individual protesters. At times, protestors on the outer edges of the demonstration area closed in on police officers, completely circling them.

"The anarchists attacked anything that stood in their way, big or small," a police spokesperson said. The ripped stones out of the sidewalk, they destroyed parking ticket machines. Black smoke, scenes of chaos and the sirens of emergency vehicles filled the eastern German city.

Ultimately, though, the violent clashes between anarchists and police cast a dark shadow on the larger G-8 protests, which were mostly staged without any violence or hitches. Two protest marches started through the city at noon to protest the meeting of heads of government and state.

In additional developments on Saturday, security officials in Germany stopped one train filled with protesters from Hamburg to Rostock believed to be carrying left-wing radicals and anarchists.

Saturday's violent turn caught many off guard. The earlier part of the day had been noted for the paltry turnout of protesters. Organizers of the main peaceful demonstration estimated they had a turnout of 80,000 people, but police put that figure at a much lower 25,000.

Globalization critics from all over Germany and other parts of Europe had converged on the city, some coming in specially chartered trains and buses for the protest, held under the slogan, "Another world is possible." Organizers had called together an unusually broad coalition of G-8 critical groups that included environmental, development and church groups as well as the usual roster of anti-globalization blocs, including the European organization Attac, Germany's Left Party, which includes the successor party to the East German communists, as well as representatives of the Green Party. The groups are in Rostock to campaign for governments to make global trade policies more socially just, more democratic and more environmentally conscious.

dsl/dpa/ddp/afp

Looks like that it will be some hot days.... And I don't want to look mean, but after all the crap the city I live in had to hear from Rostock, I won't shed a tear...

Tanasinn · Post by **Tanasinn** » 2007-06-02 03:55pm

Sounds like the police showed pretty remarkable restraint.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2007-06-02 04:11pm

Some nice impressions from the day:

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,884143,00.jpg A hot day...
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,884104,00.jpg Ditto...
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,884092,00.jpg Scum at work.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,884124,00.jpg Ammunition.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,884096,00.jpg More scum at work.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,884106,00.jpg "I will get you".

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2007-06-02 04:12pm

See, what I don't understand is why the fuckers didn't do this in Edinburgh? Did they think the a bunch of angry Scotsmen would hunt them down like the dogs they know they are? Why do they never do it over here?

I imagine the German police will manage to contain it, they seem to have even more riot coppers than either the UK or Frogland.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2007-06-02 04:20pm

"We can't achieve anything with peaceful means."

Well of course you can't shit for brains! That is because you dont even represent a rounding error in the elections.

Sturmfalke · Post by **Sturmfalke** » 2007-06-02 08:34pm

I imagine the German police will manage to contain it, they seem to have even more riot coppers than either the UK or Frogland.

Most certainly, they have concentrated about 16,000 policemen in that region which should be more than enough.

In the light of this event, the massive presence of the police and the fence around Heiligendamm seem justified (though some of my relatives living in the area say that it really is a huge inconvenience).

Post by **weemadando** » 2007-06-02 09:24pm

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,884106,00.jpg - that one needs to be photoshop'd to the cop running after him with a bunch of flowers, or a rolled up newspaper or anything else similarly amusing. Hell, if the cop just had his back leg straightened a bit more I'd put a tutu on him myself.

Ritterin Sophia · Post by **Ritterin Sophia** » 2007-06-02 11:15pm

I fucking hate anarchists...

Setesh · Post by **Setesh** » 2007-06-03 03:41am

General Schatten wrote:I fucking hate anarchists...

I don't hate anarchist, I hate anarchist who don't realize anarchy doesn't work as a viable form of society. Anarchists don't really want anarchy. Take a good look at the crowd at an anarchist rally. How many of them are bored upper middle class idealists? How many would bitch and moan about not having a stable society to leech off if they actually got anarchy?

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2007-06-03 05:04am

CJvR wrote:"We can't achieve anything with peaceful means."

Well of course you can't shit for brains! That is because you dont even represent a rounding error in the elections.

it's look like they took Toyama Koichi to the word...

Post by **weemadando** » 2007-06-03 05:46am

Setesh wrote:
General Schatten wrote:I fucking hate anarchists...
I don't hate anarchist, I hate anarchist who don't realize anarchy doesn't work as a viable form of society. Anarchists don't really want anarchy. Take a good look at the crowd at an anarchist rally. How many of them are bored upper middle class idealists? How many would bitch and moan about not having a stable society to leech off if they actually got anarchy?

The best thing to do is the "Something Positive" solution. Where as soon as you see someone wearing an "Anarchy Rules" t-shirt or starts spouting that BS, grab your friends, jump them, beat the shit out of them and take their money. All the while asking: "HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LIKE ANARCHY NOW MOTHERFUCKER?"

I haven't done all of that, but I did crashtackle a guy to the floor at a party and ask him that question after he started going on and on about how Anarchy was "the only solution to our current culture".

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2007-06-03 06:25am

Anarchism?

Pfft.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2007-06-03 06:35am

60 injured rioters vs 400+ police, that is a rather poor showing from the Polizei.

Temjin · Post by **Temjin** » 2007-06-03 06:44am

What I don't understand is how a violent protest is supposed to further their cause. Are they trying to scare people into being anarchists? Doesn't that go against the whole "Anarchy will make the world a better place, WOOOOO!" idea?

I'm really quite perplexed on how this was supposed to work. If anything, it proved the point that anarchy is a shitty idea. The riot was anarchy. And look what the fuck happened!

It just feels strange for them to do this just to prove themselves wrong.

Sturmfalke · Post by **Sturmfalke** » 2007-06-03 06:53am

CJvR wrote:60 injured rioters vs 400+ police, that is a rather poor showing from the Polizei.

n-tv.de states that there were nearly 1,000 people injured, 433 policemen, 30 of them seriously and 520+ rioters, 20 of them seriously.
(n-tv.de Link (in German), Spiegel Online Link (in English) without the exact figures)

Zed Snardbody · Post by **Zed Snardbody** » 2007-06-03 07:18am

Sturmfalke wrote:
CJvR wrote:60 injured rioters vs 400+ police, that is a rather poor showing from the Polizei.
n-tv.de states that there were nearly 1,000 people injured, 433 policemen, 30 of them seriously and 520+ rioters, 20 of them seriously.
(n-tv.de Link (in German), Spiegel Online Link (in English) without the exact figures)

LAPD might be able to give them a few pointers.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2007-06-03 09:59am

Do you have any idea how many left-wing idiots would start to crawl out of their holes and cry "fascism is back, stop the Nazis", if the police-forces would react properly against the rioters?

If I had any say in the matter I would order the police to put paint, that can't be washed away into their water-throwers and make a razzia for the next three days. Everybody cought with paint on him or her is to be arrested and brought to Helgoland after everything else has been removed from the island.

Starglider · Post by **Starglider** » 2007-06-03 11:40am

I'm prepared to defend the rights of the ones who attack the conference itself, by chaining themselves to railings or whatever. I don't agree with them, but political protest should be protected, even if it treating them leniently mean a few instances of radical protestors getting away with violence against police. I do not have a shred of sympathy for rioters who harass, vandalise and injure random property and civilians. I am all for this sort of thing being put down quickly and with whatever measures necessary, and the perpetrators being punished to the full extent of the law. The problem comes in that the distinction between a legitimate political protest and a unlawful riot is easily blurred by politicians who don't like the former (as we've seen again and again throughout history). Drawing up laws that permit genuine riots to be dealt with harshly without letting local authorities break up any demonstrations they don't like is tough.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2007-06-03 11:42am

I found it rather amusing that the scum who screams the loudest about fascism didn't have enough courage to go to China when the WTO held a meeting there and riot. Then they would get a real taste of fascism along with 10 years re-education in some outback shithole in outer Mongolia.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2007-06-03 11:53am

The main problem for the police is that for years now the "peaceful" protesters have willingly made themselves the useful idiots of the violent anarchists by not wanting to maintain order at their rallies.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2007-06-03 12:16pm

We can be pretty sure that the next important summits will be held in authoritarian countries after the mess that they are become in western countries...

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2007-06-04 08:17am

Well, the blame game is now on. Every side accuses the other of being responsible for the situation to escalate like this. Nothing out of the ordinary of course....

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2007-06-04 08:19am

Who has the 'honour' of holding the next G-8?

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2007-06-04 08:24am

Dartzap wrote:Who has the 'honour' of holding the next G-8?

Hokkaido, Japan:

linky

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2007-06-06 08:33am

It seems things will get more interesting:

Spielgel Online

CLASHES AT HEILIGENDAMM AHEAD OF SUMMIT
Police Use Water Cannon on Anti-G-8 Protesters

Around 10,000 protesters have broken into the no-demo area around the G-8 summit venue. Police used water cannon to disperse the groups.

The water cannon were used on demonstrators near the town of Bad Doberan where they entered the no-protest zone around the summit venue. Around 10,000 demonstrators entered the zone on Wednesday morning, violating a ban on protests in the area around the summit. They had avoided police roadblocks by walking through fields and woods.

According to police spokesman Lüdger Behrens, officers "used water cannons twice after demonstrators bombarded police with stones." He said the protesters were violating a ban on demonstrations in the area and might be detained.

The protesters were trying to make their way to a security fence around the summit venue at Heiligendamm.

Police said they were bringing in reinforcements by helicopter. Earlier a police spokesperson had said that the police had been surprised by the protesters' tactics.

Meanwhile demonstrators also blocked the main access road to the summit venue with the aim of preventing delegates and their entourages from reaching the hotel where G-8 leaders are meeting. The railway line which is to be used to ferry journalists from the press center to the summit venue was also blocked by demonstators.

dgs/ap