ROSTOCK, Germany (AP) - Hundreds of protesters clashed with police Monday ahead of this week's Group of Eight meeting, as anti-globalization activists challenged attempts by security officials to keep them away from the summit town of Heiligendamm.
About 800 protesters demonstrated outside Rostock's immigration office demanding "global freedom of movement and equal rights for all," including refugees and asylum seekers. After a peaceful start, the demonstration turned violent and "some protesters started to throw bottles at officers," police spokesman Lyder Behrens said.
The website Spiegel Online reported that a photojournalist was injured and four people were detained when 400 demonstrators clashed with police. Police could not immediately confirm the report.
On Saturday, some 3,000 black-hooded anti-G8 protesters pelted police with rocks and bottles in Rostock. Authorities said more than 400 officers were injured, 30 of whom were hospitalized with broken bones and cuts. Organizers said 520 demonstrators were hurt, 20 seriously. More than 2,000 protesters were still in Rostock on Monday, police said.
The situation around Heiligendamm was calm Monday ahead of the three-day meeting starting Wednesday, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host the leaders of Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Russia, Canada and the U.S. for discussions on issues including global warming, aid to Africa and the world economy.
Germany is determined to avoid a repeat of the debilitating violence that has marred previous G8 summits, notably in Genoa, Italy, in 2001 where one protester was killed. It has reinforced its border controls ahead of the summit.
Germany's Constitutional Court said an alliance of activist groups had challenged a lower court's ban on protests outside of Heiligendamm.
That ban came into force last week, when public access to Heiligendamm was shut off. Authorities had said earlier that starting Wednesday, the demonstration ban will be expanded to about one kilometre beyond a 12-km fence that was built around Heiligendamm.
It was not clear when the court would rule on the case.
In a separate decision, an administrative court in the town of Greifswald ruled that only 50 protesters would be allowed to hold a rally directly outside Rostock's airport, where G8 leaders were scheduled to arrive. Activists had asked permission for a 1,500-member demonstration at the airport, but the court rejected their claim for security reasons.
The approved protest will be restricted to a shoulder of a road across from the airport entrance. A bigger group will be allowed to protest at a nearby parking area for buses.
© The Canadian Press 2007
THE FILM: DEATH OF A PRESIDENT
A faux documentary broadcast in 2008 gives a news account, with talking head interviews, of the assassination of President of the United States George W. Bush on 19 October 2007. The fictional TV news broadcast relates how a hidden sniper fatally shot the president following an economic speech at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel, in front of which an anti-war rally was being held. A man of Syrian origins, Jamal Abu Zikri, becomes the prime suspect.
Vice President Dick Cheney, promoted to president, uses the possible al-Qaeda connection of the suspect to push his own agenda. He calls for "Patriot Act III", giving the FBI, police, and other government agencies increased investigative powers on U.S. citizens and others, and contemplates an attack on Syria.
After Zikri is convicted based on dubious forensic evidence, the report indicates that the perpetrator is most likely Al Claybon, an African-American 1991 Gulf War veteran living in Rock Island, IL, and father of a soldier who has recently died in the line of duty in Iraq. The assassin blames Bush for the death of his son and commits suicide after murdering Bush. His suicide note, addressed to his son Casey, a Chicago-based veteran of the Iraqi war, reads:
“ Everything I stood for and raised you to stand for has turned bad. There's no honor in dying for an immoral cause. For lies. I love my country, but I love God, and the sons He gave me even more. I must do the right thing by you and by David. George Bush killed our David, and I cannot forgive him for that. ”
Ten months after the assassination, however, Zikri remains in prison with government officials holding up his appeal.
Casey Claybon later finds evidence in his father's house linking the father to planning the shooting of President Bush, the most incriminating of which is a copy of a top secret document outlining to the minute Bush's itinerary in Chicago on 19 October. As the film ends, the US government is still in the midst of investigating how Claybon obtained this document.
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