Clashes between police and anti-G8 demonstrators injured more
than 400 police officers during a huge protest against the upcoming
summit in northern Germany, authorities said Sunday. Protest
organizers said 520 demonstrators were hurt.
Police said 63 remained behind bars after violence that broke
out Saturday on the sidelines of a demonstration by tens of
thousands in the north German port of Rostock.
Despite their riot gear, 433 officers were hurt, including 30
who were hospitalized with broken bones and lacerations after
fighting into the evening Saturday with some 2,000 protesters who
showered them with beer bottles and fist-sized rocks, police
said.
Other officers were treated for smoke inhalation from burning
vehicles and debris, and for eye irritation from the tear gas used
by police in an attempt to dissipate the skirmishing groups of
black-clad youths.
Organizers said 20 of the injured demonstrators were seriously
hurt, and activist Mani Stenner said more than 165 had been
temporarily detained.
People protesting the Group of Eight summit had streamed into
Rostock from around Europe and elsewhere for what began as a
relatively peaceful demonstration.
Authorities put the size of the demonstration at 25,000, while
organizers said it was 80,000. Some 13,000 police were on hand.
The protesters gathered in two large groups and then marched
through town chanting slogans and carrying signs against the
three-day summit. The meeting begins on Wednesday in the nearby
coastal resort of Heiligendamm where German Chancellor Angela
Merkel will lead discussions with leaders of Britain, France,
Japan, Italy, Russia, Canada and the US on global warming, aid to
Africa and the world economy.
After the two groups of protesters converged on Rostock harbor
to hear speeches and music, violence broke out on the sidelines
between the police and about 2,000 violent demonstrators wearing
black hoods and bandanas covering their faces.
Summit a big emitter
The upcoming G8 summit will produce 30,000 tons of carbon
dioxide emissions, a study published Sunday showed.
The study by consultants ClimatePartner for Der Spiegel
magazine found that the total emissions from the summit would total
about a third of those caused by last year's month-long soccer
World Cup in Germany.
"This is a conservative estimate," Moritz Lehmkuhl, managing
director of ClimatePartner, told Spiegel.
The study showed that convoys of government cars transporting
leaders and officials from the G8 industrialized nations to the
venue in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm from the airport and
back would use 7,138 tons of CO2.
Each G8 country is dispatching a delegation of more than 20
people, with the United States sending by far the biggest team,
according to the study. They are also sending an armor-plated
limousine for President George W. Bush.
Guests from developing countries, the EU and the United Nations
will cause another 5,000 tons of CO2. Police, technical support
staff, 4,700 accredited journalists and up to 100,000 demonstrators
will contribute almost another 6,000 tons of CO2, said the
study.
(China Daily via agencies June 4, 2007)
