The Rumble in Rostock

It had been a largely peaceful, almost lazy march. And extremely loud. But suddenly, in the afternoon, it descended into violence of the kind Germany hadn't seen in decades.

Police estimate that it was a group of around 2,000 Black Bloc anarchists who transformed the city-center into a battlefield. Chaos quickly took over. [...]

"There is absolutely no justification for violence against other people," Manfred Stenner, peace activist and co-organizer of the demonstration, on Saturday evening following the riots. He also lamented that the organizers were unable to pull off the peaceful march they had planned.

Strano, vero?

There was speculation on Saturday evening that the violence had come from anarchists who traveled to Rostock from abroad. Werner Rätz, another co-organizer from the anti-globalization group Attac, said, "in any case, the behavior of many anarchists, in the way they continually chased the police, was atypical for German groups." But, he went on, it remained unclear for the moment who was behind the violence -- and, he said, it is too early to criticize the police for their response.


Quello che non torna mai, in questi casi, è il fatto che la polizia venga sempre presa alla sprovvista da gruppetti piccoli e riconoscibili a chilometri di distanza. Ma l'impreparazione è davvero difficile da comprendere: Heilingdam e Rostok sono militarizzate da almeno un mese, e qui in Germania dall'inizio di maggio si vedono sui giornali le foro di poliziotti anti-sommossa in spiaggia, a fare cordoni non si sa contro chi.

Sono settimane che la polizia criminale tedesca (è la polizia federale, quella che persegue i crimini tosti) perquisisce e sequestra a destra e a manca in tutto il territorio tedesco. Ecco un paio di link uno e due.