Renewed ban on Heiligendamm march: protesters angry

Berlin (dpa) – A renewed German ban on protests within seven kilometres of next week’s G8 (Group of Eight) summit at Heiligendamm brought anger Friday from protesters who had hoped to converge on the venue.

“This is a rebuff to the peaceful protests at the G8 and a black day for freedom of assembly,” said lawyer Carsten Gericke, who had represented demonstrators in a lawsuit against the ban.

An administrative tribunal had upheld Thursday evening a ban on unauthorized marches up to a fence of welded steel mesh erected at a two-kilometre radius around the luxury Kempinski beach hotel.

During their convergence march on June 7, the marchers must stay about seven kilometres away on German federal highway 105, judges in the city of Greifswald ruled.

A tribunal spokesman, Eckhard Corsmeyer, said Friday the ruling reflected the venue geography: marching would block the country lanes down to the beach and obstruct fire and police trucks and ambulances if disaster hit.

Gericke said he was studying if there were grounds to appeal urgently to Germany’s federal constitutional court.

Leftists and groups critical of globalization have already been upset by police scrutiny of their movement, heavy policing at pre-G8 marches and this week by Berlin’s refusal to let 20 leftists attend the June 6-8 summit as reporters.

A Federal Press Office spokesman said 4,700 applications for media accreditation were received and 20 denied after vetting by federal police. He did not say why they were seen as security risks.

German journalists’ unions protested, saying the rejections created the impression that critical reporting was unwelcome.