Germany: state ban on protest impotent as thousands march against Nato
Workers Power Global, Munich

The anti-Nato mobilisations in Munich during 1/2 February were a great success despite or rather because of the attempts of the Bavarian government and police to ban all protest.

Every year in February the Nato Security Conference is held in Munich. It is a meeting of around 200 military strategists and generals plus foreign ministers and war ministers of Nato and EU states. This year they had something to talk about: the next phase of George Bushâs Thirty Year War on everyone who tries to say no to the USA.

In Germany the run-up to the events included intimidation and repression by the federal, Bavarian and Munich city authorities. A virtual state of siege was declared. Freedom of speech, movement and assembly were suspended. All infrastructure, such as sleeping places for the expected thousands of protesters, and infopoints was closed or cancelled. Buses were stopped on their way to the city (e.g. from Berlin), the Schengen Treaty was set aside and people from were turned back at the borders (e.g. Austria).

All demonstrations and rallies against the Nato summit which had been planned were declared illegal. Nevertheless the anti-capitalist and anti-war movements defied these bans. Demonstrations took place in many cities in Germany.

On Friday 1 February a demonstration of around 2,000 was repeatedly attacked as people tried to assemble in Marienplatz; again about 400 arrests were made during the day. Even before the protests began the authorities has arrested some key organisers and activists in an attempt to cower the anti-militarist movement and disorganise it all without effect.

During Saturday 480 arrests were made as police attacked a demonstration by over 15,000 who had challenged the ban on demos and broke through police lines into the city centre. Time and again, groups of hundreds of people were surrounded and hemmed in behind police cordons.

Later in the evening 400 demonstrators were besieged by armed police cordons in the Munich headquarters of Germanyâs main trade union confederation, the DGB.

Despite this, thousands asserted their right to demonstrate on the streets against a massive police mobilisation. The fact that the demonstration of over 15,000 took place at all was an absolute triumph.

This repression, and the attack on democratic rights, is very clearly a continuation of the counter-offensive against the anti-capitalist movement that began with the shooting of demonstrators in Gothenburg and continued with the police riot and murder of Carlo Giuliani in Genoa.

In Munich, the SPD mayor was centrally involved in the suspension of the right to demonstrate. Hand in hand with Stoiberâs Bavarian administration, and with the full backing of the federal government, he sent in over 3,000 police tried to prevent demonstrations against NATOâs policies.

Press reportage has been totally coordinated. Yahoo posted reports from yesterday on the internet with todayâs date, the rest of the news agencies all reported that the police have the situation "in hand".

The intervention of German troops in Afghanistan, Somalia, Kuwait and now in Kenya, where they began today, obviously demand peace and tranquillity back home.

We call on all progressive organisations, all trade unionists and all activists to oppose this flagrant denial of democratic rights. We urge all who can to attend the numerous protests that will take place in the week ahead against the arrests that took place in Munich; we urge activists to call workplace meetings to report back to their colleagues about what took place in Munich both in the run up to the weekend and on 1-2 February itself.

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