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Solidarity Action (G8) at Kempinski London

il(imc london) | 11.05.2007 19:54 | G8 Germany 2007 | Repression | London

Around 50 people gathered at the Kempinski Hotel in London tonight to show solidarity with the victims of the wave of repression against G8 activists in Germany.

Police Allready There
Police Allready There

Police Protects The Coffee Republic
Police Protects The Coffee Republic

Unsustainable Capitalism
Unsustainable Capitalism

"Kempinski - The Fat Years Are Over"
"Kempinski - The Fat Years Are Over"

People Gathering At Entrance
People Gathering At Entrance


Around 50 demonstrators gathered in front of the entrance of the Hotel, handed out leaflets and talked to people passing by. People seemed very interested, and many already knew about this latest wave of state repression against anti G8 infrastructure and activists from mainstream media.

From the demo call:

"Why at Kempinski London?

Kempinski is the Hotel Group which hosts the G8 Summit in 2007. Kempinski has privatised large parts of the village of Heiligendamm, as well as beaches around it. Heiligendamm is the town in northern Germany where this year's G8 summit will take place. Bacause of this, the whole area around the town is fast becoming a no-go area even for the local people.

By choosing the symbolic site of the Kempinski Hotel in London we will protest against the upcoming G8 in Germany and the capitalist system it represents."

il(imc london)

Additions

nice action

11.05.2007 20:22

i was there, not spectacular, but very nice. showed the cops that the raids did more for the mobilisation then against it. almost 50 people, not easy to get so many people together in london spontanously.

demonstrator


nice, yeah. now from London to Heiligendamm ...

11.05.2007 20:42

next meeting in London:

Thursday May 17th:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/370095.html

i


Comments

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constructive criticism

12.05.2007 10:00

1. No banner that was thematically in line with the G8 repression.
2. Not enough flyer to give to people passing by explaining the situation.
3. Lot's of other flyers were distributed that had nothing to do with the G8 and just confused people that were interested.
4. No plan of action. With those numbers it would have been easy to blockade the entrance with a banner (explaining why we do this e.g. "Block G8 and their host the Kempinski-Hotel Group - Stop Repression in Germany") while others would distribute flyers.
5. A demonstration would have been nice marching towards the hotel from somewhere.
6. A snappy slogan to shout at least, to make people aware of our intentions would have been an easy thing as well.

Overall, all the preparations needed for those things could have been sorted out beforehand, with a little meeting or at least an announcement in the Indymedia call out that people should prepare stuff.
I really thing 90% of the people walking past had no idea what we were all about and though we are just some weird anti-capitalists (which we are) that were arbitrarily targetting meaningless hotels (which was definitely not the case).
Even though I am new to the Lodnon scene in wondered whether, mobilising "only" 50 people (which I think is a bit overestimated as well) in such an extremely huge place as London is a "good" turn-out? Personally I expected something more.

Other than that. Definitely better than nothing. Just a bit more organising next time.

Saludos Libertarios.

participant


I guess you're right

12.05.2007 11:42

But you can't expect everyone else to think of that for you.. If we didn't make it more clear, it was really everyone's fault, individually. There was no time to prepare and taking into account the short time between the call and the protest, I thought it was a pretty good turnout.

I'm also "new" around here, but welcome and hope to see you next time!

andre


answer @participant

12.05.2007 12:10

quote :

"Even though I am new to the Lodnon scene in wondered whether, mobilising "only" 50 people (which I think is a bit overestimated as well) in such an extremely huge place as London is a "good" turn-out? Personally I expected something more."

please read a bit about mobilisatinon in London on indymedia and try to understand the massive difficulties. especially if you are "new" to London you should do that first before blaming people.
if you see the 150 at autonomous mayday, the 10 at kopenhavn solidarity demo, then this IS a good turnout. about your list, sure you are right, but im always wondering why the people who do at least a little are blamed rather than those who did nothing or didnt come.

so yeah, see it as constructive criticism.

see you next time.

me


press pics

12.05.2007 15:09

Four pics from photojournalist Marc Vallee from last night's protest can be found here:

 http://www.marcvallee.co.uk/stories_kempinski_g8.html

press pics