euro|topics - Anti-globalisation activists and violence

Main focus of Monday, June 4, 2007

Anti-globalisation activists and violence

Nearly 1,000 people from both sides were injured in violent clashes between militant G8 opponents and the police in Rostock on Saturday. The violence forced the peaceful demonstration staged by different groups of anti-globalisation demonstrators into the background. The European press ponders on how the protest against the G8 summit, scheduled to begin on Wednesday in the German resort of Heilgendamm, will develop.

Népszabadság - Hungary

"It remains unclear how many of the fifty events registered by anti-globalisation activists will be allowed to take place in the wake of the 'battle of Rostock'. It's also unclear whether the demonstrators will be allowed to approach the fence, whether security forces will be able to filter out the hooligans from the peaceful demonstrators in advance, and whether the police will have the situation under control," writes the paper's Germany correspondent Edit Inotai. "Several organisers of anti-G8 demonstrations have admitted they didn't expect the situation to escalate like this... 'Unfortunately, the rioters have no political motives, therefore it's impossible to negotiate with them,' said Manfred Stenner, one of the organisers of the peaceful demonstrations. The anti-globalisation activists know that they are the main victims of these riots because now instead of their political demands, violent images are dominating the media." (04/06/2007)

Der Standard - Austria

Birgit Baumann writes that the riots in Rostock have demonstrated that it's impossible to completely barricade off the location of a G8 summit. "This is a good thing, too. The freedom to demonstrate and freedom of speech enshrined in the German constitution are such noble values that they can't be emphasised often enough... However, a small minority in Germany abuses the freedom to demonstrate, using it to vent their blind and destructive rage. No matter whether it's a rally against the G8 summit, a protest against the German National Democratic Party or the May 1 riots in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, the well-organised network of the militants will be at the scene, dealing out blows and shattering peaceful protests. This is bad news for moderate critics over the coming days... If they want to preserve their credibility, the organisers of the upcoming demonstrations must do their part and make a much greater effort to distance themselves from violent radicals." (04/06/2007)

Berliner Zeitung - Germany

"The security concept for the G8 summit in Germany, which the local authorities had been working on for two years, has failed," writes Hendrik Munsberg. "According to statements of eye witnesses and authorities, around two thousand left-wing militants appeared out of nowhere to provoke violent clashes. Many of them had travelled to Germany from abroad: from Bulgaria, Russia, Japan, Sweden and France. Globalised violence against globalisation. Up to now no one has been able to explain how the instigators of the rioting were able to make their way to the demonstration despite stringent controls, even passing through national border controls undetected. Apparently, the radicals have refined their techniques for escaping the attention and the clutches of the authorities." (04/06/2007)

Le Figaro - France

"Does the alterglobalisation movement still have a 'raison d'être'?", wonders the editorialist Yves Thréard, after the violence that broke out this weekend in Germany. "It feels like a long time ago when certain observers saw alterglobalisation as a new political force, a new 21st century ideological trend spreading over the planet, as communism had done previously. ... In vain, a common denominator is being sought for the ecologists in the Larzac region of France, the peasants of Altiplano, those nostalgic of Che Guevara, the WTO assailants, the advocates of the Palestinian cause and the followers of the black flag - the ones who smashed up Rostock. The massive demonstration in Geneva, in 2001, is now a mere memory: It didn't trigger off the international rebellion that had been so desired and so dreaded. And it is no longer all the rage to go to Porto Alegro, Mecca of all those dreaming of another world." (04/06/2007)

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