Hamburg G20 protests: What is Antifa? Who are the 'Welcome to Hell' protestors?
Hamburg G20 protests: What is Antifa? Who are the 'Welcome to Hell' protestors?
THE G20 protests across Hamburg have shocked the world with images of rioters looting stores and setting cars on fire. But who are the G20 protestors who have taken to the streets of Hamburg?
By
SEBASTIAN KETTLEY
PUBLISHED: 12:56, Sun, Jul 9, 2017 | UPDATED: 16:47, Sun, Jul 9, 2017
Clean-up begins in Hamburg after destructive G20 protests
Germany, this week.
Since the protests broke out, 144 people have been arrested and 144 are in custody, a police officer said.
Thousands of protesters clad in black chanted anti-capitalist slogans as they pelted police officers with glass bottles and set cars on fire.
Wolfgang Bosbach of the ruling CDU party, likened the scenes in Hamburg to "civil-war like conditions”, saying the “activists” were given free reign for criminal activities.
His views were mirrored by Andreas Scheuer, General Secretary of the CSU party, who blasted the "leftists anarchists" and "offenders”.
"The left mob has to be broken up, it has to have consequences," he said at a press conference in Viechtach.
What is Antifa?
The Anti-fascist Action movement, commonly known as Antifa, is a far-left and largely loose collective of extreme anarchists and socialists who see violence as a legitimate form of activism.
Antifa supporters are often found at political demonstrations and rallies, where they demonstrate their opposition to capitalism and the far-right. They are characteristically clad in black and red.
But it is unclear how many of the Hamburg protesters are linked to Antifa and how many are associated with other anarchist groups.
Police were worried of a third day of violence when some 40,000 people gathered under the banner of the anti-globalisation ATTAC movement on Saturday.
G20 protests swept through the city of Hamburg this week
ATTAC coordinator Thomas Eberhardt-Koester told Reuters that the movement wants to "bring criticism of the G20 and alternatives for fair global policies onto the streets".
The most violent elements of the numerous protests across Hamburg were found in the ‘Welcome to Hell’ protest which kicked off on Thursday.
We wish the demo as a militant joint prelude to the days of resistance
Welcome To Hell demonstration organisers
‘Welcome to Hell’ organiser Andreas Blechschmidt said the rally's motto is "a combative message... but it's also meant to symbolise that G20 policies worldwide are responsible for hellish conditions like hunger, war and the climate disaster".
Hamburg Police said that a 1,000 strong “black-bloc” of rioters refused to remove their masks and used glass bottles and rocks to clash with the officers.
Video footage caught in the centre of the chaos saw the masked agitators setting up roadblocks of rubbish bins and burning debris, to halt the progress of police vans.
High-pressure water cannons and tear gas were deployed by riot police to separate the violent groups.
The police expected around 100,000 in total to demonstrate across the city, and security forces were ready to deal with as many as 8,000 violent rioters.
Germany’s Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maiziere, decried the acts of violence and called the protestors “criminals”.
"The brutality with which extremely violent chaos has taken place yesterday and before yesterday in Hamburg is incomprehensible and outrageous," he told Die Welt newspaper. "These are not protesters, they are criminals."
Riot police in Hamburg were forced to use tear gas and water cannons
According to the protest’s plan of action, the goal of the demonstration was to give G20 protestors a platform for “varied and fundamental criticism of the ruling circumstances”.
“As radical and anti-capitalist left, it’s going to be our duty to confront this spectacle of power in Hamburg together with many other people and to put forward our ideas of a more just and solidary society”, the protest organisers wrote on their website.
The website further added: “Our goal is to carry out our demonstration as planned. We want to walk with the demo, we want to be loud and angry.
“We wish the demo as a militant joint prelude to the days of resistance.”
Jesus... we are wishing death on posters in HL now?
