G8 reality – mistakes on both sides of the trench
The G8-protests in Rostock were much more peaceful than it appears in the media. The protests could have been more peaceful of course. It is a shame and a tragedy that police officers and demonstrators were hurt – however it could have been prevented since errors were made on both sides which hopefully are not repeated at the G8 protests in the next days. On the whole, the protests showed the variety of the globalization critics, the large number of supporters and the slow commercialization of the entire movement.
I went to Rostock because I did not only want analyze and simulate the G8, but also wanted to get an impression of the G8-protests in Germany. Already in the train from Hamburg to Rostock there was an verbal argument between G8-supporters and G8-opponents in which also the other passengers interfered in favor of the G8-opponents. The enormous police presence at each stop of the ICs was felt clearly and made an obvious impression on the tourists in the train.
Rostock Main Station was one of the starting points of the demonstration courses. From the train I could see that the number of the demonstrators was very large. The main station was overcrowded, but the police held back and did not intervene. The crowed flowed to the square in front of the station and I tried to lock my luggage. However due to full closets, I first went to my Grandpa to leave my luggage there. On the way back I went to the other demonstration which started at the Schutower cross in the north of Rostock.
Among the demonstrators were very different groups, from the Communists to the Green Youth, from Greenpeace to Revolutionary-Socialist Federation, from Attac to the Linkspartei. People of different age, among them children, pensioners, many young people, and also many citizens of Rostock were represented.
The individual groups shouted their slogans, through the speakers came political discussions, some groups were drumming and dancing. The mood was very happy and not at all aggressive.
At about 14.30 the demonstration arrived at the port of Rostock. Participants supplied themselves at the numerous food stalls and at a gas station because all other shops were closed.
All in all the whole situation was very peaceful. I did not hear anything about attacks on police cars or shops, but later I heard that this had occurred in the demonstration that started from the main station.
At the port the stage was already set up, the music played and the arriving participants spread over the square in front of the stage. The police-officers were visible, but kept to themselves on a hill overlooking the port.
The mood however became increasingly gloomier. Partially because of the rainy weather, but also due to the roar of the police helicopters (with up to six over the heads of the demonstrators).
Among the demonstrators were lots of young people in black sweaters with hoods and black sun glasses. In the media these people are called “autonomous” and “black block”. I could not discover a “black block”, however it might be that they had already spread themselves through the crowd. The number of black-dressed young people was quite high (I would say approx. 15 percent of the participants), but from the discussions with them I learned that primarily the clothes serves as an identification as an Anarchist.
Not all “blackdressed” demonstrators threw stones. In fact only a very small part of the “blackdressed” used violence – even if in the television pictures suggest something completely different. The term “autonomous” for the stone throwers seems to me totally misused, because it describes only the fact that Anarchists do not organize themselves in associations or central networks. Both terms have nothing to do with the attitude towards violence and therefore it is misleading the “black block”, “autonomous” and “stone throwers” are equated.
Not all “autonomous” regard violence as legitimate means of the political debate. There were numerous people in the black block which tried to mediate or withdrew from the escalations of violence. I would estimate that less than 1 per cent of the participants were violent.
Along the port different units of the police were stationed which were mostly passiv. Within 15 minutes this changed. First I could see police-officers approaching the demonstration and forming close formations. In particular police in black uniforms (federal police?) gave the impression that they would storm the place. This explosive mood was felt by many demonstrators, uncertainty prevailed because no one knew what would happen.
It is difficult to say if the policemen were already attacked then, but flares flew into their direction. From a truck it was announced that the police would try to enter the demonstration. I saw the formation of the police coming closer. I do not know if there was no communicaton between organisers and police but at the stage there was only music and no annoucements were made.
The crowd reacted with “Piss off! ”- shouts. Some demonstrators moved in the direction of the water and some demonstrators ran toward police. After a small detour I reached a place where I could observe the following events.
During these events the demonstrators from the main station entered the square in front of the stage. The numerous participants did not know why there was so much police present.
Some stones flew and the police made short maneuvers into the demonstrators’ crowd – the waves of fleeing people still noticable at the other end of the crowd. The reply was another hail of stones, answered by the police with short sprints towards the crowds. In particular in the Standstrasse, a road parallel to the bank and separated from the main demonstration sqaure by some shrubs, the police and the demonstrators moved back and forth.
However only a small part of the present policemen intervened. Many policemen on the side streets kept out of vision. The policemen were apparently very well coordinated – the stone throwers as well. As soon as the policemen withdrew, the stone throwers turned around and began the “game” over and over again. Some stone throwers had the task to warn other demonstrators if the violence moved toward them.
I have seen a few injured demonstrators and no injured policemen at that time, but the situation was also very complex. Trees, shrubs, car and humans stood everywhere.
There was no police announcement and the police did not call the stone throwers to withdaw themselves. The remaining crowd heard of the events only indirectly.
I went towards the city center. There the situation was relatively calm, the shops were barricaded, at McDonald’s stood long queues. I met some friends and we went to eat something together. For the vegan food, we had to walk a little bit longer into another quarter of Rostock. The whole walk took approx. 2 hours and so we luckily missed the large escalations that occured at the port.
When we went again into the city center, we noticed immediately that the police units were very nervous. The port was surrounded by heavy machinerie and heavy troops, but the mood seemed to have relaxed somewhat, since the concert already had started and many demonstrators danced.
Apparently the police tried again and again to separate the stone throwers from the peaceful demonstrators. The demonstrators again tried to calm both the stone throwers and to ask the police to withdraw, but did not succeed.
I believe it would have been possible to prevent the escalation. Both the demonstrators and the police tried not to provoke each other – but did not succeed. One would have had to communicate more clearly what happens – uncertainty is the biggest driver of escalations. The demonstrators needed to have time to prevent violence from their own ranks.
It is clear that neither the anti-globalization movement nor the police had effective strategies to prevent violent demonstrators from attacking the police or buildings. Each small police action is taken as reason by the violent protestors to attack the police but these attacks on the police are taken again as pretext to strengthen the force of the police. Thus the spiral of violence turns faster and faster.
The deescalation strategy is not wrong, quite the contrary because much worse was prevented. The scene, in which a police car is attacked, is terrible and should remind both sides to dissociate yourself from violence. In the G8 camp this was a heavily debated topic.The next days will show whether both sides can learn from the events of Saturday.
