G-8 protest camp meets police chief

In the framework of the preparation of the protest against the G-8 summit, there met, on Friday afternoon, representatives of the Working Group Camp of the overall protest with representatives of the police in Bad Doberan. Both sides agreed that the globalisation critics also needed places to stay during the period of the protest. While following the statements of the police director Knut Abramowski, the official interest lay in particular in guaranteeing the security of the official state guests, the interest of the globalisation critics lies in particular in finding a self-organised site in adequate difference to the action of the protest for their stay of about 10 days.

As a result of the conversation, Dieter Rahmann of the Camp Working Group says: ?We are not much smarter now than we were before the conversation. The police continue to keep us waiting!?

During the conversation, agreement on the fact of the need for one or several camps may well have become apparent, the road there, however, is uncertain. The members of the Camp Working Group criticised that the police were still not making any clear statements on how far the security zone will reach beyond the fence. ?The inhabitants and the mayors in the area showed themselves uncertain during conversations ever again when it was a matter of determining whether they should put at our disposition their sites for a camp!? thus Adolf Riekenberg of the Working Group Camp.

?Either it is incompetence or pure lack of good will, if the special unit ?Kavala? for months on end after the beginning of its work still does not want to make a statement on the areas in which it considers camps as an infringement on its security concept?, says Riekenberg. Thus following the statement of Knut Abramowski it is still unclear whether the city of Bad Doberan will be part of a special security zone.

The members of the Camp Group tried to explain again to the police that the protest group in Bützow organised by a commercial agent did not really play any role for large-scale social protest. ?The camp in Bützow is much too far away, it was organised on a commercial basis and is refused by the way by almost all significant groups in the protest spectrum?, declared Riekenberg.

A further date was agreed upon among the conversation partners for next week.

Members of the delegation of the G-8 protests:

  • Adolf Riekenberg, Camp Working Group, Attac Coordination Circle, tel. 0175-4254928;
  • Diether Rahmann, Camp Working Group, freely floating left-winger, tel. 0179-6268785;
  • Monty Schädel, Anti-G-8 Alliance Rostock, Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, German Peace Society 0177-8871014;
  • Birgit Schwebs, member of the regional parliament, Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, Left Party