매일 '민주주의' (독일)

Germany: Wave of Repression

Against Anti-G8 Structures

Today since the early morning naerly 1000 police officers, including anti-terror units, were/are raiding offices and private houses of anti-G8 activists. Especially in Berlin and Hamburg the Federal Criminal Agency (BKA) is searching for "evidence" against a "terrorist organisation" with the "aim of preparing militant attacks against the G8-Summit" next month in Heiligendamm (north-east Germany).

Alone in Berlin at least six offices/social centers and several privat houses were raided..

Well, actually the entire "operation" is just aimed to intimidate/oppress the entire anti-G8 movement in Germany.

Press release:

Since Wednesday (May 9, 2007) morning 8 am a wave of searches is taking places against left structures throughout Germany. Targeted are social projects and private persons that are organizing against the coming G8 summit - or suspected to do so.

In Berlin at least seven flats and office spaces are being searched, amongst which two offices in Bethanien, a social centre in Kreuzberg, Berlin, and the Fusion shop in the same district. The latter is a space used by an antifascist organization and the Interventionist Left. Moreover, a bookshop in Mehringhof and the office spaces of several alternative media projects in Lausitzer Straße have been searched.

The criminal investigation police was putting special attention on the alternative Internet server so36.net. Many left and alternative projects have their websites, mailing lists and mail adresses hosted there. This way, the communication structue of the anti-G8 movement is hit on a sensibel point.

In Hamburg the repression is aimed against the social centre "Rote Flora" and diverse housing projects. Also in the surrounding of Berlin searches are taking place. And there are first reports about searches in the city of Bremen.

The orders for the searches are based on § 129a: "Formation of a terrorist association with the aim to stop the G8 summit". The random selection out of many left housing and infrastructural projects makes clear that the investigation is used as an excuse in order to weaken the mobilization against the G8. "Probably diverse cases of property damage serve as an excuse for these investigations", so the impression of the Campinski Press Group. One of these cases occured at the Kempinski Hotel, where the G8 summit is going to take place. The hotel was targeted with paint balls some months ago.

The context of a §129a investigation are instrumentalized in order to gather data about the protest movement. Besides, such measures have, most likely intended, intimdating effects. Only 2% of all $129a investigations result in sentencing.

However: "Who invites the G8 summit, also invites the protest against it", explains Hanne Jobst of the Berlin Bethanien office. "All attempts to criminalize this movement will not prevent us from exposing worldwide inequalities during the G8 summit."

The repressive acts of the criminal investigation police are not entirely surprising. The left and radical left resistance against the G8 has reached an uncontrollable level for the police. "So far, the police only tried to split the resistance in the public media through hallucinating about an army of 'anarchists'. Now they will try to sabotage the organizational structures", Jobst explains further.

"It is noteworthy that the searchces are targeted agaist all those parts of the resistance that refuse to direct claims to the G8, because they refuse the G8 in general as an illegitimate institution", explains a spokesperson of the Gipfelsoli Info Group.