[wvns] Germany: Greenpeace Makes a Splash at Protest
Protesters in boats at G8, crowds at fence
Thursday, June 07, 2007
http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=9424
Heiligendamm, Germany (dpa) - Greenpeace protesters in several
inflatable boats forced their way into a marine exclusion zone near
the G8 summit at Heiligendamm in Germany on Thursday.
High-speed police patrol boats and inflatables gave chase for 10
minutes in a spectacular display of dodging on the Baltic before the
protesters were caught. One of the protest boats capsized.
A Greenpeace spokesman said the group had intended to land on the
beach outside the luxury summit hotel and hand a petition to Western
leaders demanding action on climate change.
The previous day, police had confiscated motor parts for the
inflatables on the Greenpeace mother ship Arctic Sunrise in a vain
effort to nip the protest in the bud.
On land, police allowed protesters to assemble peacefully for a second
day at a fence two kilometres from the G8 summit venue.
German authorities have legally prohibited protests in the area, but
police have been pragmatic, insisting only that protesters do not
touch the fence. Riot police have manhandled protesters away from
essential roads only.
"We're only clearing roads if they are needed by us, other transport
operations or emergency services," said a police spokesman.
On Wednesday, 9,000 protesters objecting to the three-day meeting of
Western leaders had swarmed through fields to the fence.
At one gate to the summit compound, about 1,000 protesters spent the
night in sleeping bags. At another access way to the east, 500 slept
on the ground. Protest helpers hauled in food and portable toilets for
them.
German police, who have 16,000 personnel at the summit, have called up
reinforcements. Police unions said 200 riot police from Hamburg and
230 from Saxony-Anhalt state had been drafted to Heiligendamm to help
with crowd control.
Police said they were concerned about violence, because protesters had
been seen making petrol bombs or inserting nails in potatoes to use as
missiles. Protesters had also planned to tie down riot police with
diversions.
German police are under legal restrictions, and cannot use firearms
against protesters on land or at sea.
On land they have have manhandled sitting protesters or hosed down
larger groups with cold water from police trucks. Lines of riot police
have used plastic clubs and shields to drive back the protesters.
Sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that US security men tested
German security by trying to smuggle C4 plastic explosive past a
checkpoint at Heiligendamm.
German surveillance machinery detected the tiny stash in a suitcase in
a car and the Americans in plainclothes then identified themselves.
German police declined comment.
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