The Saturday riot in Rostock (2)

Before we left here earlier things were calm. The Police had withdrawn and most of the people who were fighting them earlier had left before we did. Now the police are forming into units and storming into the crowd of people watching the bands. Nicking anyone that gets in their way. They also seem to be doing targeted arrests, which suggests that they are being directed by plain clothes spotters in the crowd?

Now that all the brick throwers have left they can pretty much do what they like without being in any danger of reprisals. So those who are left here are being punished just for being in attendance. A teenager in front of me is trying to ask a commanding officer what they are trying to achieve. The cop replies by pepper spraying him in the face. The cops are shooting their chemicals from the hip so that the people are being hit in the face without warning or an opportunity to get out of the way. It also ensures that most of the media do not capture the pepper spray use on film.

Then without any reason or warning one of the water cannons opens up on a section of the crowd near one of the Police units. One of the cops is too close and gets knocked off his feet along with several of the demonstrators. The water has had a teargas like chemical added to it. So a hit in the face is agonising and everyone gets a light dose of gas as the water evaporates off the ground.

As the units march through the crowds they make a point of treading over anyone who is sitting on the ground and then stamping on anyone who complains. As they sweep through the crowds anyone who come within range gets punched or kicked out of the way. The batons come out whenever they are faced with numbers that are anything approaching even. Most people run away. You can’t blame them for that. At one point a cop jumps on a photographer from a corporate agency for taking his picture. The snapper is made to delete the image in front of him. The cop in question is wearing a riot helmet with a ski mask underneath so his face is not visible anyway. Either he is just looking for someone else to pick on, or he is a complete fuckwit.

Finally after what seems like an eternity of provocation the crowd finally reacts. A peace line of several hundred people link arms to keep the marauding plods out. A mobile sound system appears and people start to dance in front of them. Meanwhile a unit trapped inside is surrounded by group of around fifty people who start doing the hokey-cokey in a circle around them. They bust out of the circling protesters several times only to be surrounded again. Eventually they withdraw humiliated.

The passive resistance of the demonstrators was ultimately quite empowering. They kept their dignity. They stayed at their concert till the end. And unlike the Police no one was paying them overtime to be there.

It should be remembered that Germany is not the only G8 ‘democracy’ where the Police can do what they like without any comeback. Lets not forget the Murder of Carlo in Italy. The behaviour of the Police in Seattle, and the US patriot act. Then there is Russia under Putin, a place where critical journalists get assassinated and opposition supporters jailed. Then there is France where immigrants are routinely rounded up and beaten by the brutal and racist CRS. And lets not forget Britain. A country where you can be arrested and jailed without charge. Where it’s illegal to protest outside your own Parliament without permission. Where you can be shot eight times in the head on an underground train for looking a bit foreign with the murderers never being identified, let alone charged.

I bet China can’t wait to join?