60 year old historian Martin Bühler (who identified himself to the press, I do not identify activists without consent) appears to ‘photobomb’ a lot of media images of the G20 in Hamburg. In reality he is a long time observer documenting police brutality. In Hamburg he chose to cultivate the most non-activist ‘white bystander in a suit with a bike’ look he could manage and casually walked in front of police. As police slowed down or interrupted attacks and waited for the ‘bystander’ to get out of the way (being caught on camera trashing what look like bystanders is bad press after all), activists had time to regroup or retreat.
Sap we are just going to ignore the massive amounts of rioting, looting, and general damage done by the protesters? This guy is cool I like him but the amount of force used by the police was warranted due to the extreme amount of violence being caused by the rioters.
I get five of these comments a day and I’m like “DO YOU GUYS READ ANYTHING BUT POLICE PRESS RELEASES?”
The German state officials, border guards and police infringed upon the right to free speech and the right to protest, illegally stopped activists from reaching Hamburg, used violence against peaceful protestors, purposely escalated violence, stopped legal aid teams from doing their job and physically attacked lawyers and journalists:
- Das sagt der Anwaltliche Notdienst http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/162835536588/das-sagt-der-anwaltliche-notdienst-statement-in
- Pressconference on human rights violations by police in Hamburg and state infringement on the right to protest,http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/162861986288/pressconference-on-human-rights-violations-by
- Police attacks lawyer at pre-charge detention centre violently https://www.anwaltlicher-notdienst-rav.org/en/g20-police-attacks-lawyer
- Legal aid team press releases https://www.anwaltlicher-notdienst-rav.org/en/press
- Grutjes – Welcome to Hell http://www.grutjes.nl/2017/07/welcome-to-hell/
- The Raid on the Protest Camp https://www.unicornriot.ninja/?p=16884
- Video footage of violence against peaceful protestors http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/163141171698/antifakiddie-kropotkindersurprise-july-7-2017
- More video footage http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/162988701688/kropotkindersurprise-gaymelie-1312smj
- There is so much video footage http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/162870445358/kropotkindersurprise-july-7-2017-during-the
- Hours of video http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/162833362248/antifakiddie
Despite all this, the police was unable to surpress and contain protests and activists succeeded in creating police-free zones:
- What Made Large Scale Resistance Possible at the G20 in Hamburg?http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/162932163118/what-made-large-scale-resistance-possible-at-the
- Over de G20 top in Hamburg https://anarchistischegroepnijmegen.nl/over-de-g20-top-hamburg
- The Police Lost Tonight https://itsgoingdown.org/police-lost-tonight-hamburg-first-day-resistance-g20/
- A Report from the Frontline http://novaramedia.com/2017/07/08/welcome-to-hell-a-report-from-the-front-line-of-g20/
The Police dramatically exaggerated the number of wounded cops and the media ate it up while ignoring the many severely wounded protestors:
- http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/163095356208/fehlkonstruktion-queeranarchism-batvegan
- Während der G20-Proteste wurden weniger Polizisten verletzt, als die Polizei behauptet https://www.buzzfeed.com/marcusengert/bei-g20-protesten-weniger-polizisten-verletzt-als-gemeldet?utm_term=.bx01drMKJ#.blEJMoEaA
Neonazis and drunk partygoers, not left-wing activists, were responsible for much of the damage done to local homes and cars:
- Neonazis geben Teilnahme an G20-Protesten zu http://www.thueringen24.de/welt/article211302087/Exklusiv-Neonazis-geben-Teilnahme-an-G20-Protesten-zu.html
- Statement by business people and shop owners of the Hamburg district Schanzenviertel, http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/162988625188/statemeny-by-business-people-and-shop-owners-of
The business people and shop owners of the Hamburg district Schanzenviertel, presented by the media as ‘victims of the radical left’ released their own statement supporting the activists and pointing to heavily armed police as the biggest threat to their safety.
In short:
If you think that what was violent in Hamburg was ‘left wing extremists’ creating ‘random destruction’ you’re allowing yourself to be taken for a ride by police press releases designed to obscure that was actually going down was a massive violent attempt by heavily militarized police to repress the right to protest.
QueerAnarchism 