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Hamburg street chaos

G8 Critical mass disrupted by police and St Pauli fans take over streets of Hamburg.

Over 250 people involved in the G8 mobilization took to the streets of Hamburg in a critical mass cycle ride yesterday. The police broke up the group of cyclists by driving between them with vehicles and by running and standing in front of them. The cops followed the smaller groups of cyclists to get them to disperse. 12 people were arrested and held for several hours.

There was a high police presence on the streets of hamburg due to the St. Pauli vs Dresden football match. Pauli fans known for their anti-fascist stance occupied the streets of Hamburg for most of the evening. Police fired water cannons at fans who were throwing bottles.

As the night went on Pauli fans brought the chaos to outside the Rota Flora convergence center where many people have been organizing for the G8. The building was defended and remained secure.

anonauton

Additions

pics from HH critical mass

27.05.2007 09:47

from imc germany:

Another report in English

http://de.indymedia.org/2007/05/178663.shtml

Pics

http://de.indymedia.org/2007/05/178563.shtml

transmitter

Report from Hamburg from an US activist

27.05.2007 11:58

Story from Hamburg
As my plane landed in Hamburg a lightning bolt almost hit it. I was looking out the window and saw the bolt streak down barely 300 feet from the plane. I landed without being blown to pieces, which was nice. However, I sincerely hope it is not an omen.

Never having been to Germany, Hamburg appeared to me as an anarchist paradise. Political graffiti was everywhere. You can identify people like you by sight. And the Rote Flora, the convergence center for Hamburg, is incredible. An old theatre from the 1800's, it is now a political center/squat with dozens of rooms all for specific things. There also a bike shop. Take the best community bike shop in the US and amplify it 100% and you will understand.

Which brings me to the Critical Mass. At first I was bummed, not having a bike. But then I learned of the bike shop and was given one of dozens and dozens of bikes. It worked too. So off I was. European cities were not built around the automobile, as ours were, mostly, thus allowing us to evade the cops ("bullen" in German, or bull) and ride for longer. There well over 200 of us, probably more. Every time I looked backwards I could not see the end. We were pursued by a dozen green vans. When they thought they had us, black and green clad cops streamed out of the vans. But we always got away, thanks to the sidestreets. The filming on the part of the cops is a lot more intense than it is in the states and it is big concern for the people in Hamburg, now that they are being called terrorists by their government, just as we will be soon. We rode for over an hour, causing joyous mischief in our wake, mischief I cannot recount because my memory is real bad.

When I got back and returned the bicycle I was dead. I hadnt slept in a couple of days. The people at the convergence center got me a place to stay which I cannot go into detail about, although I would like to. But its really great. As I passed out I heard those wonderful European sirens.

The next day, it turned out that after the St. Pauli football game there was a riot. Things were thrown, the bullen let loose the water from their cannons and there was a standoff near the Rote Flora. I wish I could have been there, but right now, typing as Peaches plays on the stereo, I am grateful for my sleep. Today there is a demonstration against the EU's desire to privatize education so Europe can have an education system as good as ours where we have to pay to work in an office or work in a kitchen with a degree in philosophy. On Monday the EU is having its Asia summit and things will get really crazy. When I can I'll get as much information out as possible.Until then, remind your friends that something is about to happen in Germany. Their biggest weapon is the suppresion of information and they use it well. The only way to counter it is to spread it all ourselves. Perhaps what is happening here can give you some form of hope. It is giving me hope.

xyz

Comments

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Defering to pessimism

03.06.2007 08:55

Although I am directly involved in advocacy for alternative media -at least insofar as prying the control of our community TV channel away from the corporate cable company - I find myself at odds with a number of my more radical and activist compatriots. I am not convinced that protests (whether they are peaceful or otherwise) do all that much to alter policy making at either the global or domestic coriddors of power. This is as much a problem with a complacent civil society as it is with a global elite which rules uncontested in its own interests. Irrespective of however spectacular are the events on the streets accompanying G-8, IMF, World Bank , or any other global institutional gathering, they will always be portrayed by commercial media as nothing other than spectacle. Reduced to material that fits in with uncomplicated, un-contexted entertainment that only serves to villify those who can't cope with the established order; and to comfort the real critical mass who have too much at stake in this order to have any compassion or understanding as to why protesters and activists have any axe to grind. How different a world we would have if people all over the globe were to take their politics and political economy more seriously. Instead, they find solace in resonating with the security forces which are there to protect their innocence and a media that is more sympathetic and representative of their need for order and pursuit of material security.

Whether or not there are powerful forces at the controls of what is fit to be printed or broadcasted, so long as mainstream/commercial media remains as the main source for news and information for the critical mass of civil society there is very little reason to be hopeful for a more just and sustainable world. Protests and various other activist events will have little effect on the techno-blitzed minds of this generation.

Brock MacLachlan
mail e-mail: bjmaclac@sfu.ca

UK Indymedia