Peace for the World, Pretzels for Bush

national | miscellaneous | news report Sunday May 26, 2002 11:22 by Emma Young dusuileach at yahoo dot com

Bush in Berlin

An overview of the anti-Bush protests in Berlin

Bush arrived in Berlin last Wednesday starting off his visit to Europe which will culminate in the NATO – Russia summit in Rome.

With Berlin’s long tradition of violent civic disorder, security was extremely tight; the German government called in 10,000 extra police and Bush stayed in the Hotel Albion nearer to the Reichstag – normally visiting dignitaries stay in the Hotel Intercontinental but it was felt that the distance that would have to be travelled by the president would pose too great a security risk.

Street protests began on Tuesday with a march organised by SDS (The former East German Communist party). The demonstration was attended by 10,000 people with representatives from over 200 different groups; anti-globalists, anti-fascists, anarchists, environmentalists, socialists, Palestinian support groups, Human Rights groups and concerned citizens. The age protesters ranged from 4 months to 83 years old and many people in wheel chairs attended the march. The mood of the demonstration was buoyant and police presence was low key. The march culminated with speeches by Uri Avnery (an Israeli peace activist) and music by David Rovics.

Over the next two days many street protests were organised, from a Reclaim the Streets march to a Dallas-style wedding to the final ‘Cowgirls for Peace’ parade on Thursday. Demonstrations were organised in many cities across Germany – Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Munich – and it was a very German affair with very few international participants.

The protests passed off peacefully with the only violent incidents occurring after the largest demonstration, attended by over 30,000 people, on Tuesday night. Police used water cannons to clear the demonstrators from the park in front of the Berliner Cathedral pushing them back towards Alexanderplatz. On route a McDonalds was attacked and some bus shelters and shop fronts were smashed.