“POLICE DEBACLE IN HEILIGENDAMM” - “DEMONSTRATORS OUTFOX POLICE AT HEILIGENDAMM”
8 June 2007
These are the headlines on the website of the prestigious German news magazine Der Spiegel. Reuters likewise reported “Thousands of protesters successfully blocked delegates from accessing the G-8 venue at Heiligendamm on Wednesday.”
Reports on the Der Speigel, Indymedia and other websites and directly from League for the Fifth international and Revolution members participating make it clear that the blockading of the summit on its first full day was a tremendous success.

Of course nobody seriously expected that the G8 criminals themselves could be prevented from gathering at the luxury Grand Hotel Kempinski at the Baltic seaside resort. They all flew into the Rostock-Laage airport and were duly ferried by helicopter over the 16,000 police and 10,0000 demonstrators. But the large numbers of “sherpers” and journalists who had hoped to come in by rail and road were seriously disrupted.

The high court ruling, extending the anti-democratic ban on all demonstrations to a large area beyond the steel, concrete and razor wire fence, was openly defied and proved completely unenforceable.

Der Spiegel makes this clear. “Outwitting the police: protesters at the G-8 summit in Germany managed to sneak past officials to the security fence at Heiligendamm.”

The only cavil one can have with this is that a column of 2000 demonstrators marching through open oat fields, with helicopters clattering overhead can hardly be described as “sneaking.” Der Spiegel continues with ‘sneaking’ admiration:

“It was also a clear indication that the anti-G-8 crowd are outstanding strategists. Fully 16,000 police are on hand for the event and the roads near Heiligendamm on Wednesday were crawling with bright green police vans speeding in every direction. Police helicopters likewise buzzed overhead. Nevertheless, the long-prepared policing plan
proved to be deeply flawed. Groups of demonstrators -- some numbering just a few dozen, others as strong as 2,000 and more -- appeared almost out of nowhere to block important roads and thoroughfares in the area.”

According to police themselves some 10,000 protesters made it as far as the 12-kilometer-long fence reaching the east entrance gate and other points along it. The police are not only frustrated and wrathful but their moral is sagging badly. As reported to Der Speigel, Konrad Freiberg, the head of Germany's police union, said that uniformed officers were already "exhausted." He reported that the police looked like "zombies" and that they had been suffering from a lack of sleep and G-8 deployment shifts that ran upwards of 20 hours a day.” He said reinforcements were desperately needed from across Germany.
Another important feature is the effective rejection of diversion of holding a counter summit during the blockades perpetrated by the official sponsors of the anti-G8 mobilisation, in particular, Attac, the Linkspartie and the NGOs. Only a thousand of so attended the spiritless gathering and even they, when a representative of League said that it was an absolute shame that this had been deliberately organised to clash with the blockades, he received loud applause.

The mobilizations, as our comrades on the spot have reported, have been a remarkable success. Heligendamm- Rostock has renewed the militant spirit of the anti-capitalist movement. It has been a mobilization of unprecedented length – seven days already- no wonder the police are tired. The demonstrators are also obviously feeling the effects of a weeks camping, tear gas and water cannon, marching and blockading.

But they are buoyed up and urged on by solidarity and success, as well as by belief in the justice of the cause for which they are fighting. They realize that they represent millions of victims of the G8- victims who are now rising up and g fighting back. This gives them a combative spirit the hired heavies of the G8 criminals can never achieve. Of course frustration and rage may lead the police to further brutality. If they do, as in Genoa it will only compound their defeat and multiply the forces of resistance.

After the Summit we must ensure that the spirit of the protests - anticapitalism and anti-imperialism, is taken back to every country, that the movement of resistance grows and becomes more militant. It must be a spur to unity in action to fight the G8 and their system, honest debate about the kind of world we need to replace their one with, and the methods for reaching it on every front

also on www.fifthtinternational.org:

Solidarity with COBAS against police repression!
8 June 2007
We express our total solidarity with the hunger strikers of COBAS, fighting for the democratic rights of workers in the private sector to hold meetings in work time and to join the trade union of their choice. More...

The struggle in Rostock against the G8
LFI Statement, 8 June 2007
The events of recent days during the mass protests against the G8 summit in North Germany are of extraordinary importance. Rostock became a microcosm not only of imperialist "democracy" but also of the resistance against capitalist globalisation. More...