Tens of thousands protest against G8 summit in Germany
Pastor Dale Morgan
Saturday June 2, 7:45 PM
*Tens of thousands protest against G8 summit in Germany*
Tens of thousands of protestors marched through this northeastern German
port on Saturday to show their opposition to next week's G8 summit of
the world's wealthiest nations.
Organisers said they were expecting 100,000 people from anti-poverty and
anti-globalisation groups to demonstrate in the nearest city to the
luxury coastal resort of Heiligendamm where the leaders will gather from
Wednesday.
But police said only 30,000 people were taking part.
Fears of unrest were heightened when demonstrators at a meeting of
European and Asian foreign ministers in the northern city of Hamburg
this week clashed with police who used tear gas and batons to disperse
the crowd.
The atmosphere in Rostock as the protests started was calm and
good-natured, according to police and AFP reporters at the scene.
Protestors carried banners reading: "G8 = terrorism, war, climate
killer" and "No dialogue with capitalism".
Dirk Mirow, a 37-year-old German taking part in the demonstration, said
he was hoping the summit would achieve a major breakthrough on capping
greenhouse gases.
"I am here to protest for the climate because I have a two-year-old
daughter and I'm wondering what sort of world we are creating for her,"
he said.
The Rostock demonstration kicks off a week of protests against the
meeting of the leaders of G8 nations Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, as well as invitees such as
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Militant protestors have threatened to block roads around Rostock
airport from Wednesday to prevent the leaders and their delegations from
reaching the summit venue.
The German authorities have mounted an extensive security operation,
with up to 16,000 police on duty.
They fear the protests will be hijacked by militants bent on causing
violence and are determined to avoid repeat of the bloody scenes at past
G8 meetings, most notably in the Italian city of Genoa in 2001 when a
demonstrator was shot dead by police during riots.
A planned march of Germany's biggest neo-Nazi group to coincide with the
Rostock demonstration was banned by a court on Saturday because of the
risk of violence.
A court in Greifswald said the risks of violence posed by the
anti-immigration National Democratic Party (NPD) "could not be managed
because of the substantial deployment of security forces for the G8 summit."
A party spokesman said that instead of marching through the eastern city
of Schwerin, its members would try to join the Rostock protest.
All around the summit venue in the northern German resort of
Heiligendamm, tented camps have been springing up and anti-globalisation
groups are planning an 'alternative' summit to highlight poverty in
Africa and inequality.
As is now customary for G8 summits, the luxury beachfront hotel on the
Baltic coast where the meeting will be held is surrounded by a heavily
guarded fence topped with barbed wire.
An underwater barrier has been erected to prevent ships approaching the
hotel.