Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

The Saturday riot in Rostock (2)

Guido | 03.06.2007 19:52 | G8 Germany 2007 | Globalisation | Repression | Social Struggles | World

So we’ve back at the hostel for around an hour and a half after the first trouble when the phone rings. ‘The cops are going fucking mad!’ we are told so it’s back to the rally to see what is going on? A car has been torched since we were last here and the water cannons are out.

So you thought that the Stasi had been disbanded?
So you thought that the Stasi had been disbanded?

Sitting down still not allowed.
Sitting down still not allowed.

Fuck off hippy!
Fuck off hippy!

Another arrest.
Another arrest.

Fearless cop nuts protester while wearing crash helmet.
Fearless cop nuts protester while wearing crash helmet.

Banner is water cannoned. Was it too colourful or something?
Banner is water cannoned. Was it too colourful or something?

Barging into the peaceful crowd.
Barging into the peaceful crowd.

Shooting from the hip.
Shooting from the hip.

Heroic cop stamps on wounded protester.
Heroic cop stamps on wounded protester.

Neither intimidated...
Neither intimidated...

Getting job satisfaction officer?
Getting job satisfaction officer?


Before we left here earlier things were calm. The Police had withdrawn and most of the people who were fighting them earlier had left before we did. Now the police are forming into units and storming into the crowd of people watching the bands. Nicking anyone that gets in their way. They also seem to be doing targeted arrests, which suggests that they are being directed by plain clothes spotters in the crowd?

Now that all the brick throwers have left they can pretty much do what they like without being in any danger of reprisals. So those who are left here are being punished just for being in attendance. A teenager in front of me is trying to ask a commanding officer what they are trying to achieve. The cop replies by pepper spraying him in the face. The cops are shooting their chemicals from the hip so that the people are being hit in the face without warning or an opportunity to get out of the way. It also ensures that most of the media do not capture the pepper spray use on film.

Then without any reason or warning one of the water cannons opens up on a section of the crowd near one of the Police units. One of the cops is too close and gets knocked off his feet along with several of the demonstrators. The water has had a teargas like chemical added to it. So a hit in the face is agonising and everyone gets a light dose of gas as the water evaporates off the ground.

As the units march through the crowds they make a point of treading over anyone who is sitting on the ground and then stamping on anyone who complains. As they sweep through the crowds anyone who come within range gets punched or kicked out of the way. The batons come out whenever they are faced with numbers that are anything approaching even. Most people run away. You can’t blame them for that. At one point a cop jumps on a photographer from a corporate agency for taking his picture. The snapper is made to delete the image in front of him. The cop in question is wearing a riot helmet with a ski mask underneath so his face is not visible anyway. Either he is just looking for someone else to pick on, or he is a complete fuckwit.

Finally after what seems like an eternity of provocation the crowd finally reacts. A peace line of several hundred people link arms to keep the marauding plods out. A mobile sound system appears and people start to dance in front of them. Meanwhile a unit trapped inside is surrounded by group of around fifty people who start doing the hokey-cokey in a circle around them. They bust out of the circling protesters several times only to be surrounded again. Eventually they withdraw humiliated.

The passive resistance of the demonstrators was ultimately quite empowering. They kept their dignity. They stayed at their concert till the end. And unlike the Police no one was paying them overtime to be there.

It should be remembered that Germany is not the only G8 ‘democracy’ where the Police can do what they like without any comeback. Lets not forget the Murder of Carlo in Italy. The behaviour of the Police in Seattle, and the US patriot act. Then there is Russia under Putin, a place where critical journalists get assassinated and opposition supporters jailed. Then there is France where immigrants are routinely rounded up and beaten by the brutal and racist CRS. And lets not forget Britain. A country where you can be arrested and jailed without charge. Where it’s illegal to protest outside your own Parliament without permission. Where you can be shot eight times in the head on an underground train for looking a bit foreign with the murderers never being identified, let alone charged.

I bet China can’t wait to join?

Guido
- e-mail: guidoreports@riseup.net

Additions

Comments

Hide the following comment

Thanks for an excellent report & pics Guido

03.06.2007 22:08

But do watch your own back (and legs ;-)
Looks a bit hairy there.

kriptick


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech