Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Hamburg in a State of Emergency

20 of the world’s biggest criminals have descended on Hamburg, Germany for the G-20 summit. But tens of thousands of protesters are throwing sand in the gears. Terrifying police violence has only strengthened activists resolve. Our reporter sends some impressions straight from Hamburg.

Nathaniel Flakin

July 7, 2017
Facebook Twitter Share

Hamburg is normally a rainy harbor city of 1.5 million people. But now it’s unlike any city I’ve ever seen. The streets are almost empty of cars. Lots of people are walking or riding bikes. Small groups of young people in black clothes place fences and rocks on the streets. Above all there are police: circling above in helicopters, mounted on horses, riding in tank-like water cannons… Every few minutes a column of police cars with blue lights and sirens shoots by. There are 20,000 police in total, many wearing black masks and carrying automatic weapons.

g_20_3-2.jpg

This is the G-20 summit – 20 of the world’s biggest criminals have gathered today and tomorrow in Hamburg. Tens of thousands of people have come out onto the streets already. The main demonstration will be on Saturday, where up to 100,000 people are expected. Before 6am on Friday, demonstrators were treading through the woods to enter the “blue zone” where the Hamburg police have prohibited any demonstrations and suspended basic democratic rights.

Activists were able to break through and (at least for short periods) block the roads that the capitalist politicians needed to get to their convention center. Reports say that Melania Trump was stuck in her hotel, while her husband was forced to take an alternative route. German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble had to cancel a meeting. But the price for these successful blockades was high. Dozens of protesters have been seriously injured. Hamburg’s hospitals are on high alert. At least one is in a coma. And everywhere are people with bruises and red eyes from pepper spray.

g_20_8.jpg

On Thursday evening, the “Welcome to Hell” demonstration wasn’t even allowed to start. The police attacked the 10,000 demonstrators before they took a step. And while they’ve been trying to project an image of “dangerous hooligans”, even state media have been reported that police are responsible for the violence. As a result, the Hamburg population is expressing growing solidarity. Every day, more people are offering apartments to stay in or gardens for pitching a tent.

Friday morning saw a school strike with up to 3,000 people demonstrating through the empty inner city. Many weren’t allowed to go to school anyway, if their schools are in the so-called “danger zone”. Others left their class rooms to protest against the capitalist world order, but also against an education system that trains them to be future wage slaves. “All of Hamburg hates the police!” was a slogan they chanted again and again.

g_20_6-2.jpg

Friday night saw further escalations. Demonstrators were able to get close to the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, where Angela Merkel and her friends were watching a concert. The Hamburg police sent an emergency request for additional forces – on top of the 20,000 already here! Army tanks were sighted in the city. At least one police officer fired his pistol into the air.

g_20_7.jpg

Even the conservative bourgeois media is using strong words to describe these incredible scenes: This is “like a civil war” or a “counter-insurgency exercise”. Constitutional rights are being denied on a massive scale. And there is still almost 24 hours of G20 summit left. The Hamburg government, by the way, is a coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens. At least this is nothing new for them. Way back in 1923, the Hamburg proletariat attempted an insurrection against capitalism. Who was responsible back then for beating them down and saving the system? Right, the SPD.

Facebook Twitter Share

Nathaniel Flakin

Nathaniel is a freelance journalist and historian from Berlin. He is on the editorial board of Left Voice and our German sister site Klasse Gegen Klasse. Nathaniel, also known by the nickname Wladek, has written a biography of Martin Monath, a Trotskyist resistance fighter in France during World War II, which has appeared in German, in English, and in French, and in Spanish. He has also written an anticapitalist guide book called Revolutionary Berlin. He is on the autism spectrum.

Instagram

Europe

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

A Left-Wing Bar Needs to Be Open to Everyone, Including Palestinians

Syndikat, an anarchist bar in Berlin's Neukölln district, has said that Palestinian groups aren't welcome. As leftists who meet up at Syndikat, we think the bar should work like any other left-wing space internationally.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 20, 2024

At a Meeting in Paris, 1,200 People Put Revolution Back on the Agenda

Last Wednesday, 1,200 people attended a meeting of Révolution Permanente, the sister site of Left Voice in France. The group has been playing an important role in the fight against neoliberal reforms and the Far Right, while showing that a world beyond capitalism is more possible than ever.

Feargal McGovern

March 12, 2024

Berlinale: Filmmakers Say What the Rest of the World is Saying

At the Berlinale film festival, Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers called for equality and peace. German politicians want to ban such hateful talk.

Nathaniel Flakin

February 28, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024

Lord Balfour Was an Imperialist Warmonger 

We should give our full solidarity to the Palestine Action comrade who defaced a portrait of Arthur Balfour at Cambridge University. But the problem for everyone who opposes the genocide against Gaza is how to massify and politically equip the movement.

Daniel Nath

March 21, 2024