[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2001 7:09 PM Subject: [downwithcapitalism] FW: German May Day Associated Press; Reuters; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 2 May 2201. Combined reports; commentary at bottom. BERLIN Berlin police said Wednesday they arrested 616 people during May Day clashes with far-left militants wjo pelted them and set cars ablaze---a jump in arrests compared to last year. ... City police chief Hagen Saberschinsky cited 30 major incidents in Tuesday's disturbances, half the number last year. A total 400 people were arrested last year. He said 163 officers were injured, compared to 288 injured officers the previous May Day. Some 9,000 police were in the streets Tuesday. Police and far-left protesters battled in the central Kreuzberg district, a hotbed of Berlin's alternative scene and street troubles. Riot police backed by helicopters turned water cannons on hundreds of young militants who pelted them with bottles and cobblestones, smashed cars and shop windows and threw up flaming roadblocks. Politicians Wednesday accused the local Berlin government of whipping up the May Day violence with provocative language in the run-up to the protests and mismanaging the police operation to contain them. Baerbel Grygier, the mayor of the Kreuzberg district where some battles took place, said Werthebach's plans were a failure. "The deployment of 9,000 police officers was a provocation for many people," she said. German television called it the worst May Day violence in a decade and a local radio station called it "war-like violence." In Frankfurt, thousands of counterdemonstrators set containers and tires on fire on Tuesday afternoon in an effort to stop the estimated 900 neo-Nazis who had gathered in the Kalbach district to ride the subway together to a rally in the Bertramswiese area, also in the city's north end. The disruption shut down the subway line, and led to a brief rock-throwing battle between the two sides, but police managed to clear the way to the rally site. <>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<> Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 11:44:48 +0200. From: "Johannes Schneider" on Proyect's Marxmail list. [T]he clashes in Berlin were much more violent than those in Frankfurt. In Berlin there were more than 400 persons arrested and hospitals reported about 40 people beeing injured. Comrades with a fast internet connection can have a look at: http://www.kanalb.de/spezial-1mai2001/index.html They have several videos from yesterday's Berlin events. What made the Berlin situation special was that the Neonazi demonstrations had been allowed, while the left-wing demonstration was banned. This was a clear concepts for riots. When the police started to dissolve any attempt to organize a demonstration in the late afternoon, the clashes started. On Frankfurt: The fascist NPD tried to hold their central May Day demonstration there this year and wanted to march to the European Central Bank, but the Nazis were stopped by antifascists forcing them to stay at their initial meeting point. Police wanted to clear the blocked road for the Nazis, but decided that it was not possible (or politically opportune). In Mannheim another attempted NPD march was blocked by anti-fascists, whereas the NPD was able to march in Augsburg, Essen and Dresden. PHOTO ATTACHMENT BELOW. Leftists confront police in Berlin, 1 May 2001. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
