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.

German police raid eleven premises on suspicion of “terrorism”

our reporter | 14.06.2007 14:06 | G8 Germany 2007 | Repression | Social Struggles

Only days after the end of the G8 summit, German police conducted new raids against left-wing and anarchist organisations in northern Germany. Early on Wednesday morning the federal prosecutor’s office and police carried out surprise searches of a total of 11 premises in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

The operation involved several hundred police and officials, who confiscated computers and documents from offices and private dwellings. The raids were carried out under Paragraph 129a of the German penal code, which makes it an offence to establish or support a criminal organisation. The police arrested no one and reported that no warrants for arrest had been issued.

Petra Kneuer, spokesperson for the German prosecutor’s office, immediately denied that the raids had anything to do with the G8 summit. Instead she claimed that the coordinated action was connected to alleged arson attacks on property and vehicles carried out by groups and individuals going back as far as 2002. She also said that the latest raids were unconnected with those already carried out by police against left-wing groups prior to the G8 summit.

On May 9 German police carried out a series of raids, planned long in advance, against anti-globalisation and left-wing organizations across Germany. On that occasion nine hundred police searched a total of 40 locations in northern Germany—also on the basis of suspicion that the organizations raided were involved in the “creation of a terrorist organization.” At that time the prosecutor’s office argued that it had indications that terrorist attacks were being prepared in connection with the G8 summit.

The claim by the prosecutor’s office that its current raids have nothing to do with the G8 summit is absurd. The raids on Wednesday can only be understood as part of a systematic offensive by the German government and interior ministry aimed at criminalising left-wing and anarchist organisations and systematically undermining basic democratic rights.

The connection between the raids on Wednesday and the G8 summit is made by a number of leading German newspapers (including Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung), which begin their accounts of the police action by noting the outbreaks of violence and the clashes between police and demonstrators on the eve of the mass demonstration held in Rostock June 2. In its own report on the raids, Die Welt features prominently a picture of ominous, black-garbed anarchist demonstrators from the “black bloc” at the anti-G8 demonstration.

While seeking to use the clashes that erupted in Rostock as a justification for the latest round of police raids on left organisations, none of these newspapers report that considerable evidence now indicates that police provocateurs and undercover agents were active in initiating the violence in Rostock and at other events surrounding the summit.

During the summit last Wednesday, a police provocateur was unmasked by protesters in the course of a blockade by G8 opponents of the security fence surrounding the conference hotel and premises. The undercover police agent was dressed in ‘anarchist’ gear and aroused the suspicion of demonstrators with his loud appeals to throw stones at the police. Demonstrators unmasked the man and handed him over to police who showed little interest in apprehending or dealing with their colleague.

Following the incident, the head of police responsible for enforcing security in Heiligendamm conceded that officers were active in an undercover role amongst protesters. This was normal procedure, he claimed. While it may well be ‘normal procedure,’ such infiltration contravenes the right to assembly. What remains entirely unclarified by the police officer’s admission is the precise role played by his officers in the violent clashes in Rostock, which resulted in the injury of several hundred opponents of the G8 summit.

Equating protest with terrorism

The latest raids on left-wing organisations can only be understood as part of the campaign by the German Interior Ministry led by Wolfgang Schäuble to equate demonstrations, protests and the activities of left-wing organisations with terrorism.

Following the initial “anti-terror” raids May 9, Schäuble and the German chancellor Angela Merkel (both Christian Democratic Union) stressed that they respected the right of assembly and peaceful protest. At the same time the German government stepped up its repressive measures in preparation for the G8 summit.

Soon after the May 9 raids, it emerged that the “evidence” confiscated by investigators and police included samples of odor from the clothing of those persons raided. In a sinister homage to the methods of the notorious East German Stasi secret police, the human odors were to be given to sniffer dogs at a later date to allow the detection of “suspects.”

Schäuble pointedly refused to denounce such a practice and also announced plans for the “preemptive” arrest of demonstrators to prevent any disruption at the G8 summit—another measure which patently violates the basic right to assembly stipulated in the German constitution. Police then called for a ban on all demonstrations within a 40-square kilometer area around the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm and the Rostock airport. Following appeals by organizers of the planned demonstration, this decision was recently upheld by Germany’s highest court—the Constitutional Court.

Parallel to the unprecedented security operation surrounding the summit, which involved the use of 16,000 police officers (the biggest domestic mobilization in Germany since the end of the Second World War), police and security services have conducted widespread and intrusive sweeps of private mail and online raids of computers and Internet sites in its efforts to obtain information about the activity of protesters and left-wing organizations. Once again such measures make a mockery of the basic constitutional right to privacy.

In another unprecedented move, German fighter planes were mobilized to spy on demonstrators in the course of the anti-summit protests. Following complaints from protesters, the German defence ministry confirmed on Tuesday that two of its jets, currently deployed for reconnaissance flights in Afghanistan, were reassigned to monitor the area surrounding the G8 security fence.

Following the recent controversial decision to send German military aircraft to participate in “anti-terror” operations in Afghanistan, Defence Minster Franz Josef Jung has now permitted the use of the same aircraft to help harass and suppress domestic opposition.

For his part, Interior Minister Schäuble has been campaigning for some time for permission to use German military forces to combat “terrorism,” in which category he lumps anti-capitalist protesters and left-wing organisations. The latest police raids in the wake of the G8 summit represent a flagrant breach of constitutional norms.

our reporter

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

jets

18.06.2007 15:58

one of the jets was deployed at great expense to act as an alarm clock for hung-over campers at Reddelich. it screamed directly over the camp at high speed and was deafening and shocking. the kind of thing Palestinians have been used to for years, of course.

anarchoteapot


demonstrations in solidarity

19.06.2007 07:25

At the evening about 500 people gathered in front of the Rote Flora in Hamburg to express their solidarity in a solidarity demonstration

 http://de.indymedia.org/2007/06/184728.shtml

2 days after a solidarity demonstration was held in kiel (schleswig holstein)

 http://de.indymedia.org/2007/06/185296.shtml

hh


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