G8 West Gate Blockade, Thursday 7th

Here there are some pics from yesterday's blockade of the west gate near the town of Hinter Bollhagen. Around 2500 people left Reddelich camp in the early morning towards the west side of the fence. After around 4 hours of walking, mostly seeking the cover of the forests so to hide from the police helicopters, the protesters finally made the final push through a big field to block the road leading to the west gate.

By this time police had already brought in water canons and were ready to protect the road. Even though several groups of people managed to cross the police lines and do sit down protests as well as building some barricades. The stand off lasted for most of the day, effectively blocking the road 200 meters away from the gate for the whole day. Later in the afternoon, whilst the main group of people that by that time had ground to more than 3000 people were keeping their ground in front of the police lines, several smaller affinity groups spread around the fence trying to stretch police resources whilst others carrying on with smaller actions in different parts of the road.

Later in the evening police eventually dispersed those still on the blockade, injuring several people.

Crowds walking through the forests ...