update on martin

martin support group | 06.06.2003 14:27

this is an update about martin, the guy whos rope was cutduring the g8 protests, so that he fell 21 m from a bridge over the aubonne. its made by the martin support group in lozane and also designed to speak against some of the many rumors, which spread after the action

Some Update about Martin - and some rumors, which are not true
from the martin support group in lozane

- martin is in the hospital in lozane – and he will stay here for a while. after 3 hours of operation he is recovering slowly. He is suffering from multible fractures at his left foot, a spine fracture, a pelvis fracture and a spleen injury. Eventually a second operation must be made for the foot. It will take yeas, but in the end, he will hopefully be able to walk normally. At the moment he is in bed under hard drugs, being very bored. as he is able to read, please send him mails to

love.to.martin@web.de. we will forward them.
- at the moment we have quite an argument with the hospital. they declared, that martin is moveable and want him out of the country as soon as possible. on the other hand they restricted his visits to 3 people and 2 hour per day. thee is a security guy in front of his door, who sometimes even rejects people, whos names are on the right list. the reasons to move him, are more financial - his insurance situation is still unclear - and political, because it is such an public case, and the police plays such a bad role in it. we try to let him stay here, until all problems are solved someway / the second operation as well as the legal situation.
- the legal situation is also not very clear. the two climbers are charged – mainly with blocking traffic on a motorway – and some of the other activists are charged, too. the policeman, who cut the rope, is not charged, there is just an inquiery about the `incident` We are working on bringing the legal case forward, on charging the swiss police ..
- the police on the bridge knew, that there were two climbers attached to the rope. we have photos and videos showing policemen looking down. also the policemen coming from the other lane had to cross the medial. martin waved at them and said, that they acknowledged him. and we had banners, which pointed out, that someone was hanging there. all policemen where on the spot for some time, when the rope was cut. the cut is not to be seen seperated from the whole police action. they were totally unfriendly and aggressive and not helpful at all. when the rope was cut and all the activists started to hold it to save the second climber, the police actually started to arrest people, who wanted to help, instead of helping. and when martin recieved first aid from our doctor, she had to harass the by standing policemen to help her carrying him out of the water.
- the river did not smoothen martins fall. it was too shallow to do that, and its bedis ful of big stones. never the less, if our doctor had not managed to move him out of there, he would have died from cold.

you can find more on this story at