Since Wednesday morning 8 am a wave of searches is taking places against left structures throughout Germany. Targeted are social projects and private persons that are organizing against the coming G8 summit – or suspected to do so.
In Berlin at least seven flats and office spaces are being searched, amongst which two offices in Bethanien, a social centre in Kreuzberg, Berlin, and the Fusion shop in the same district. The latter is a space used by an antifascist organization and the Interventionist Left. Moreover, a bookshop in Mehringhof and the office spaces of several alternative media projects in Lausitzer Straße have been searched.
The criminal investigation police was putting special attention on the alternative Internet server so36.net. Many left and alternative projects have their websites, mailing lists and mail adresses hosted there. This way, the communication structue of the anti-G8 movement is hit on a sensibel point.
In Hamburg the repression is aimed against the social centre “Rote Flora” and diverse housing projects. Also in the surrounding of Berlin searches are taking place. And there are first reports about searches in the city of Bremen.
The orders for the searches are based on § 129a: “Formation of a terrorist association with the aim to stop the G8 summit”. The random selection out of many left housing and infrastructural projects makes clear that the investigation is used as an excuse in order to weaken the mobilization against the G8. “Probably diverse cases of property damage serve as an excuse for these investigations”, so the impression of the Campinski Press Group. One of these cases occured at the Kempinski Hotel, where the G8 summit is going to take place. The hotel was targeted with paint balls some months ago.
The context of a §129a investigation are instrumentalized in order to gather data about the protest movement. Besides, such measures have, most likely intended, intimdating effects. Only 2% of all $129a investigations result in sentencing.
However: “Who invites the G8 summit, also invites the protest against it”, explains Hanne Jobst of the Berlin Bethanien office. “All attempts to criminalize this movement will not prevent us from exposing worldwide inequalities during the G8 summit.”
The repressive acts of the criminal investigation police are not entirely surprising. The left and radical left resistance against the G8 has reached an uncontrollable level for the police. “So far, the police only tried to split the resistance in the public media through hallucinating about an army of ‘anarchists’. Now they will try to sabotage the organizational structures”, Jobst explains further.
“It is noteworthy that the searchces are targeted agaist all those parts of the resistance that refuse to direct claims to the G8, because they refuse the G8 in general as an illegitimate institution”, explains a spokesperson of the Gipfelsoli Info Group. [pt] Na manhã de quarta-feira passada, dia 9, uma onda de buscas e apreensões começou na Alemanha. A polícia federal invadiu cerca de 40 lugares em Berlim e outras cidades, incluindo centros sociais e várias residências, em busca de projetos e pessoas suspeitas de estarem se organizando contra a reunião do G8, que se realizará no início de junho no país.
De acordo com o Centro de Mídia Independente – Alemanha, a ação, que contou com mais de 800 policiais e 20 procuradores públicos, usou como respaldo legal a lei § 129, anti-terror, cujo objetivo é a investigação de organizações terroristas.
Em Berlim, passaram pela busca pelo menos sete apartamentos, dois centros sociais, um espaço antifascista e até uma livraria, além de escritórios que abrigam projetos de mídia alternativa. A investigação criminal também deu atenção especial ao servidor ativista so36.net, onde estão hospedados sites e listas de e-mails de diversos projetos alternativos e de esquerda, atingindo criticamente a comunicação das movimentações anti-G8.
Ainda a noite, o movimento anticapitalista alemão respondeu a tal criminalização com dois protestos em Berlim e Hamburg contando com 5 mil e 4 mil ativistas, respectivamente. Na Holanda, Inglaterra, França e em outros países europeus foram organizados protestos de solidariedade para os próximos dias.
A operação foi uma nítida tentativa de enfraquecer as mobilizações da esquerda radical contra o G8, que há muito tempo saíram do controle partidário-institucional:”Qualquer tentativa de criminalização desse movimento não vai nos impedir de manifestar contra as desigualdades no mundo durante a reunião do G8″, explica Hanne Jobst do espaço Bethanien (um dos espaços invadidos em Berlim).