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Riot police use water cannons to foil G-8 summit protests
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 07 - 06 - 2007


Riot police used water
cannons to turn protesters away from the fence surrounding
the Group of Eight summit Thursday, while other protesters
led authorities on a boat chase on the Baltic Sea, REPORTED AP.
Some protesters were blocking roads while riot police
skirmished with a large group near the main entrance gate
along the 12-kilometer (7-mile) security fence sealing off
the summit, firing repeated blasts from four water cannons.
A line of an estimated 200 riot police stood between
nearly 2,000 protesters and the razor wire-topped fence.
The ragtag band of protesters tried to charge them before
being beaten back with several volleys of water blasts.
Some surged across a farmer's field, getting within 500
meters (yards) of the security fence before they were
struck by the water. Many stood nose-to-nose with officers,
chanting in unison: «We're peaceful, what are you?»
Thousands of demonstrators had spent the night in a
no-demonstration zone within a kilometer (half a mile) of
the security fence surrounding the summit at the coastal
resort of Heiligendamm.
A sign saying «Evil Empire!!!!» was taped on a road sign
pointing the way to Heiligendamm.
Offshore, activists from the Greenpeace environmental
organization _ with banners reading «G-8, Act Now» _ led
police on a boat chase. One boatload of protesters spilled
into the Baltic after colliding with their pursuers.
Greenpeace was calling on the summit to set clear goals
for the emissions of greenhouse gases without the United
States, which opposes mandatory cuts.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hosting the leaders of
the United States, France, Britain, Russia, Italy, Canada
and Japan for a meeting focusing on climate change and aid
to Africa. The summits draw protesters every year.
Near Bad Doberan, on the main road to Heiligendamm, some
2,000 protesters munched on apples, drank orange juice and
napped on the road as three groups maintained a blockade
aimed at preventing supplies and staff from reaching the
summit.
Demonstrators had dodged police Wednesday, getting into
the buffer zone around the fence where demonstrations are
forbidden, but police let many of them stay.
«We were really surprised,» said Joschka Waas, a
university student from Weimar studying to be a teacher.
«Here we are in the forbidden zone and we've got portable
toilets set up and everything. Nobody thought the blockade
would last this long, especially the police.»
As he spoke, groups of protesters sat side by side on the
road, parting only to let emergency vehicles pass through.
«We're not after a fight, this is just a symbolic
blockade of this illegitimate fence,» said Waas, barefoot
and shirtless. He said that front-page photos of protesters
throwing stones were the only media coverage of an
otherwise peaceful protest.
«Why aren't they here taking pictures of us?» he asked.
He and other demonstrators said that portions of the
12-kilometer-long (7.5-mile) fence had been breached during
the night, but police denied such claims.
«This blockade has been a clear success; we work hard for
our message,» Nicolaus Schuette, of Berlin. «These G-8
people stand for the system of competition. I'm sleeping
here thinking of friends who have their problems:
prostitutes, immigrants and prisoners. We are united and we
are sitting here and ssa Gera contributed to this
report from Bad Doberan


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