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G8 summit: Roads shut
03/06/2007 17:12 - (SA)
Rostock - German authorities on Sunday shut down most routes to the G-8 summit site of Heiligendamm and pulled over cars for spot checks on the main road there from Rostock, where protest riots injured hundreds of people.
Three days before the leaders of the world's major industrial powers gather, the situation around Heiligendamm was calm, police said.
But the police strategy of displaying a massive presence and acting swiftly against radical demonstrators was reinforced, spokespersonn Jessica Wessel said, by Saturday's violence in the north German port of Rostock. Serious clashes with the police broke out there on the sidelines of a huge anti-G8 protest.
"We succeeded in separating the violent protesters from the peaceful demonstration," she said. Will intervene
"We are prepared and will intervene accordingly if there is going to be further violence in the next days," Wessel said. "It is our duty to make sure that peaceful protesters get the chance to express themselves without violent disruptions."
The three-day summit begins on Wednesday in Heiligendamm, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel will lead discussions with leaders of Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Russia, Canada and the US on global warming, aid to Africa and the world economy.
The summit, like past ones, had been expected to attract protesters opposed to capitalism, globalisation, the war in Iraq and the G8 itself, though organisers of the demonstration had called repeatedly for a peaceful action. Closed waters and airspace
As part of the precautions for the summit, police have surrounded the site with a fence topped with barbed wire, and closed the surrounding waters and airspace, fearing terrorism or disorderly protests like the ones that marred a 2001 summit in Genoa, Italy, where police and protesters clashed for days and one demonstrator was killed.
Protests near the fence have been banned.
The huge protest in Rostock on Saturday had begun quietly, but a group of some 2 000 anti-G8 protesters hurled stones and bottles at officers in riot gear before police drove them back with tear gas and water cannons.
Police said more than 400 officers were injured, 30 of whom were hospitalised with broken bones and lacerations. Organisers said 520 demonstrators were hurt, 20 of them seriously. 13 000 police on hand
Authorities put the size of the demonstration at 25 000, while organisers said it was 80 000. About 13 000 police were on hand.
Police said on Sunday that fewer than 20 people remained behind bars, and the public prosecutor's office in Rostock said it was seeking arrest warrants for 10 of them. The 10 are accused of rioting and serious battery and expected to be sentenced next week, prosecutor Peter Lueckemann said.
On Sunday afternoon, about 1 500 people held a peaceful rally in Rostock against the Group of Eight's agricultural policies.
- AP
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