eux.tv: May 10th 2007

By Georg Ismar, dpa

Hamburg (dpa) - “Beat back Repression,” read a banner fluttering above the anarchist headquarters in Hamburg after police raided the premises in a crackdown against leftists suspected of planning to disrupt next month’s summit of industrial nations in Germany.

“We will not allow this attack by the powers of the state on the structures of those opposed to the Group of Eight summit,” yelled an activist from the veranda of the building, a former theatre called the Rote Flora.

Minutes later, the loud noise of firecrackers erupted outside the building and protesters began hurling bottles and bricks at passers- by and police, who responded with a show of force.

Some 1,100 officers moved in behind water canons to disperse the estimated 3,000 protesters as some of the more radical ones among them taunted the officers with cries of “Clear off, Clear off!”

“It’s like a war,” said a young man from out of town who was stopped by a police cordon as he was making his way to a restaurant in the city’s Schanzenviertel where the demonstrators congregated.

It was the most violent action so far by opponents of the summit of seven of the world’s leading economies and Russia that is taking place June 6-8 in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm.

The protest came less than 12 hours after raids across Germany initiated by Federal prosecutors who said they had indications that a terrorist association was forming to carry out arson and other violent actions to disrupt or prevent the meeting of Germany, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United States and Russia.

The events of Wednesday night were just a taste of the cat-and- mouse game between demonstrators and police that is likely to be repeated in the coming weeks.

Police confiscated computers and other data in the Hamburg raid. Searches were also carried out in Berlin and other cities, triggering protests by 5,000 globalization opponents in Hamburg, Berlin and elsewhere.

Four people were injured in the disturbances and 12 were taken into temporary custody on charges of breach of the peace.

Most of the rallies were non-violent, but the situation escalated in Hamburg after a peaceful demonstration by mostly black-clad young people who marched from the Rote Flora through the Schanzenviertel.

Riot police took up positions at key intersections and a special unit stormed an apartment opposite the anarchist headquarters to remove an anti-G8 banner draped from a window.

The police moved in after the stones began to fly. In the panic, a police water canon reversed into the front of a police car, causing minor damage but no injuries.

“First the raids, and now the riots,” said the owner of a bar in the area. “It’s ruined out business today,” said the manager of a Portuguese restaurant nearby.

The chairman of the German police union, Konrad Freiberg, said there was a serious danger of extreme left-wingers stepping up attacks in the run-up to the summit.

German police said they expect 50,000 to 100,000 protesters to gather next month near Heiligendamm. Most of the protesters were expected to peacefully listen to anti-G8 songs at a pop concert.

But police unofficially estimate that 3 to 5 per cent of the protesters do not subscribe to non-violence and might try to evade police roadblocks and fences and invade the summit.

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