G20

in the messages I found congratulations to the people who protested against G20 in Hamburg. I am not completely sure if you talk about the militant branch or about the "colourful".
meanwhile G20 is done for this year, public is fobbed off with shallow information, and tv is full of violence bashing. "protest is part of democracy". the "colourful" is good for the image of Germany the "black" (violent) is bad for the image of Germany. (main public tv)
on thursday and friday massive militant protests took place and on saturday about 70-80.000 peacefully marched against the policies of G20.
the 2 days I shortly visited the media centre and went through the streets of Hamburg, hundreds or thousands of apartment windows posted: NoG20. people discussed the violent protests everywhere.
the first march "welcome to hell" on thursday was stopped by police before it had started to move (apparently because some people refused to un-cover their faces) after hours of waiting it had officially been suspended by the initiators. German law says one has to appoint a march and coordinate the route with police. otherwise a gathering is illegal. Therefore the major part of the following protests in that night were illegal. mojority gathered on Reeperbahn, the famous sex-entertainment avenue close-by.
It happened that I met one group of 200 which split up and marched through residential areas ritually chanting "a a anti anticapitalista" over and over. Apparently in majority they were students in their twenties dressed in black, most of them wore black rain jackets, some of them covered their faces. about one third women. no working class. on their way they took all possible objects to block the streets, mainly construction materials and garbage containers. the first glass shop front bursted in the local branch of IKEA home-centre. they took concrete slabs stabilising the base of a commercial parasol, smashed them to produce more material to throw. the next windows were a locksmith's "security technics". the glass of the local district court followed. on the bike I observed the activists from behind, from aside, from the front. 100 m in front of the group a police truck parked, officers relaxed. I went to a fast-pizza to buy a water and watched the police vehikel, the protesters approached from behind. stones hit the vehikel, the motor reved up, the truck accellerated and rushed away. another 10 oder 15 minutes later (after 45 minutes in total) a police brigade showed up. it was short before the group reached a major cross road and square (Pferdemarkt). the brigade was well secured, well trained, but with all the weight too slow for the marauders, who melted into the mass on Pferdemarkt where a hundreds or thousands of protesters walked or waited, listened to music, others drank beer, police vehicles using megaphones tried to make the people move, gave it up went out for other spots, came in from other spots.
on several situations during the 2 days I observed the same pattern: police stays in vehikles, hundreds of special forces in protective unifroms in front of them. From the vehikels they tell the people to disappear. but people don't disappear. they tell it again. people shout. people offend police. or just don't move. next step is police announces the next step (would be to use the water gun). announces the time. two minutes later again. never happened nothing. repeatedly. here and now they gave up. probably too many normal people just spending time and not moving. militants had disappeared since quite a while. Sometimes a brigade of police started to run, and on its way caught an unlucky guy. hit him once (after the long chain of disappointment) people shout, photographers take pictures. the hitting stops one second after it started.
police is in dilemma. they have all kinds weapons and equipment and training, but they are not permitted to apply them.
no motor trafic on the streets. only pedestrians, bikes and police. everybody walks everywhere. in fact an enjoyable side effect of the summit in the small streets is no car disturbs, people bring chairs into the pleasent wheather and sit on the street or take a bike ride to watch their city in a different manner. and discuss.
after I had found out, I don't understand what is going on, it was after 9 p.m. and I decided to check out Rote Flora. It is a theatre hall built in the late 19th century, which used to be a concert hall, and in the 1980ies a bargain store "1000 pots", where I used to go because I liked the space and some times the products. [ in that time I had lived not far on the other side of the central slaughterhouse in a nice neighborhood with a pitiable smell of the dead cattle, from the first floor we could see the cows' heads dumped in an open container.]
but back to Flora - which is situated on a street called shoulderblade: it was squatted in 1989 and since than well known as a centre of the radical left. the main slogans on the facade say: "Against each kind of Antisemitism" and "Captalism will end anyway. You decide when"
Homeless people live under the roof of the former porticus. a sign on a bedsheet above a small door on the left showed the way to the autonomous information centre. Inside was crowded but not over crowded. relaxed athmosphere. on the projector a life blog. tasty vegan dinner for everyone. pay as you can. a box full of good small winter apples. behind the building, eating outdoors and below ground, on the base of a former cellar, the kitchen volunteers worked under a blue plastic tarp. after a while a young man with southern european english accent called for the next spontaneous protest. I finished reading the alternative economy paper "oxi" (the famous greek for "no") which I had found on the table. after a while I unlocked my bike and looked for them. burst bus stops, the first car. barricades in the pedestrian city. police megaphons sound nervous. I dicided to look for Erdogan's hotel. I leave for cbd which I can hardly recognize. its shiny. empty and expensive. the first barrier I pass with the accreditation, the second I don't. I ride home. the next morning the city is covered with burned cars (the next night barrikades in the streets around Flora will be burning. some shops will be looted.)
I go to the press centre and write the following post:
20 heads of states meet to discuss how to reduce our earth to rubble. Not more than 100 m from the meeting hall they lock in 4800 media representatives and nourish them. (the way back to the street stays open fpr the media people)