Police Reportedly Search German Anti-G8 Projects

Gipfelsoli Info Group

Since Wednesday morning 8 AM a wave of searches is taking places against
left structures throughout Germany. Targeted are social projects and
private persons that are organizing against the coming G8 summit — or
suspected to do so.

In Berlin at least seven flats and office spaces are being searched,
amongst which two offices in Bethanien, a social centre in Kreuzberg,
Berlin, and the Fusion shop in the same district. The latter is a space
used by an antifascist organization and the Interventionist Left.
Moreover, a bookshop in Mehringhof and the office spaces of several
alternative media projects in Lausitzer Straße have been searched.The criminal investigation police was putting special attention on the
alternative Internet server so36.net. Many left and alternative projects
have their websites, mailing lists and mail addresses hosted there. This
way, the communication structure of the anti-G8 movement is hit on a
sensible point.

In Hamburg the repression is aimed against the social centre "Rote
Flora" and diverse housing projects. Also in the surrounding of Berlin
searches are taking place. And there are first reports about searches in
the city of Bremen.

The orders for the searches are based on §129a: "Formation of a
terrorist association with the aim to stop the G8 summit". The random
selection out of many left housing and infrastructural projects makes
clear that the investigation is used as an excuse in order to weaken the
mobilization against the G8. "Probably diverse cases of property damage
serve as an excuse for these investigations", so the impression of the
Campinski Press Group. One of these cases occured at the Kempinski
Hotel, where the G8 summit is going to take place. The hotel was
targeted with paint balls some months ago.

The context of a §129a investigation are instrumentalized in order to
gather data about the protest movement. Besides, such measures have,
most likely intended, intimdating effects. Only 2% of all $129a
investigations result in sentencing.

However: "Who invites the G8 summit, also invites the protest against
it", explains Hanne Jobst of the Berlin Bethanien office. "All attempts
to criminalize this movement will not prevent us from exposing worldwide
inequalities during the G8 summit."

The repressive acts of the criminal investigation police are not
entirely surprising. The left and radical left resistance against the G8
has reached an uncontrollable level for the police. "So far, the police
only tried to split the resistance in the public media through
hallucinating about an army of 'anarchists'. Now they will try to
sabotage the organizational structures", Jobst explains further.

"It is noteworthy that the searches are targeted against all those parts
of the resistance that refuse to direct claims to the G8, because they
refuse the G8 in general as an illegitimate institution", explains a
spokesperson of the Gipfelsoli Info Group.