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News :: Miscellaneous |
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German journalist held by police in Salzburg |
Current rating: 0 |
by Frank Miller
(No verified email address) |
30 Jun 2001
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A German photojournalist from Berlin was held by officers from the Taurus (special operations) unit early on Friday evening. Note the Austria IMC link below for more news; there is presently not a link to it on the sidebar with other global IMCs. Also, read the earlier threats made by Austrian authorities, to be posted as a comment to this article. They are rather sinister, considering the way the police are now treating the press. ML |
German journalist held by police in Salzburg
A German photojournalist from Berlin was held by officers from the Taurus (special operations) unit early on Friday evening. The journalist, who does not want to be named, was taking part in an international media seminar in Salzburg which aims to document the events surrounding the forthcoming WEF meeting. As part of his research work he was cycling through the town. At the station he witnessed police officers checking the documents of a man he assumed was a WEF protester. The journalist got off his bike and photographed this ID check with a digital camera. The officers told him to stay where he was and summoned back-up. The journalist showed the officers that he was indeed a journalist by showing them his DPV press card (the internationally-recognised card of the German Press Association). The police said they did not care whether he was from the press and searched him. They took away his camera, dictaphone and mobile telephone, and tried to gain access to the phone’s number directory. The journalist was surrounded by around 20 officers and threatened. He was told he was going to be beaten up shortly. Then he was taken to a concealed corner of a car park and further insulted and threatened. The policemen repeatedly said that ‘The press always just tell lies’ and that ‘the protestors will finally get a beating’. They told him that if they saw him at the (permitted) rally on Sunday ‘It’d be his turn’.
When the journalist asked why he was being held he was told that it was illegal in Austria to take photographs of police officers. He was then taken by three plain-clothes officers to the police station where he was told by uniformed officers from the Taurus unit, ‘If you run you’re dead’. The journalist was taken to the police headquarters in Alpenstrasse and questioned. After the questioning he had to sign a printed sheet. The form said that a deportation case and charges of property damage were to be started against him.
After further abuse, the journalist was locked in a cell. After a while officers came in and told him he would soon be released. They tried to intimidate him by telling him that if he made trouble he would be banned from Austria for 10 years. All photos and sound recordings were wiped by the police and his press pass and personal ID were photographed. When he was released, around two hours later, the journalist was given his dictaphone, mobile phone and camera back. The journalist is considering whether to take legal action.
For further information contact – antiwef_media (at) yahoo.com |
See also:
http://www.austria.indymedia.org/
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Police will shoot, Salzburg summit protesters |
by @ via ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Jun 2001
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media reports
Police will shoot, Salzburg summit protesters warned (english) by anti_wef 3:15pm Fri Jun 29 '01 (Modified on 4:45pm Fri Jun 29 '01) anti_wef (at) hotmail.com
"Police will shoot, Salzburg summit protesters warned" -Telegraph "Police threaten to use guns in Salzburg rally" -The Times *The Telegraph* Police will shoot, Salzburg summit protesters warned By Michael Leidig in Vienna no confirmation yet, but two articles at the moment
AUSTRIA has given police permission to shoot protesters if violence gets out of hand at an economic summit in Salzburg this weekend.
Major Rudolf Gollia, a senior adviser to the Interior Minister, said: "We don't want a repeat of what happened in Gothenburg but we will use guns if we have to." Three demonstrators were shot and wounded by police in the Swedish city during anti-capitalist protests at the European Union summit this month.
"Violence will not be tolerated" when 600 members of the World Economic Forum meet in the Austrian city, Major Gollia said. "All officers on duty, every single one, will be armed with tear gas and guns. They have clear guidelines about their use. If there is violence they have the authority to shoot."
The police are also planning stringent border checks so that suspected militants are turned away. Armoured riot vehicles, equipped with water cannon, are being brought in. Karl Schweiger, head of the Salzburg police, said anything that could be used as ammunition in a riot had been removed from the streets.
The World Economic Forum is a non-government organisation which arranges conferences, most notably the annual meeting of business leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Yesterday efforts were stepped up to head off trouble at another summit. Italian ministers met representatives of hundreds of groups who plan to protest at the G8 meeting in Genoa next month.
Italy has threatened a tough response to protesters seeking to provoke violence but it is also encouraging peaceful demonstrations. The government of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has promised protesters a "high profile" at the summit and will set aside an area for them. An "alternative summit" on the topic of world poverty, to which Nelson Mandela will be invited, is being offered.
But the possibility of violence remains high. The hardline Rete No Global (Non-Global Network) has sent Antonio Scajola, the Interior Minister, and Renato Ruggiero, the Foreign Minister, empty bullet casings as a reminder of the events at Gothenburg,
The Genoa Social Forum, which represents 750 international and Italian protest groups, has demanded that police in Genoa must go unarmed and that a buffer area, where protests will be banned, should be scrapped.
It is also calling for a planned restoration of border checks at the Italian border with France to be dropped, and for a ban on travel to Genoa to be lifted. Its leader, Vittorio Agnoletto, expects 100,000 protesters at the summit.
*The Times* http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-2001222401,00.html
FRIDAY JUNE 29 2001
Police threaten to use guns in Salzburg rally BY ROGER BOYES IN BERLIN RICHARD OWEN IN ROME AND DANIEL MCGRORY
AUSTRIAN police have warned British anarchists that they will be shot if they threaten lives during this weekend’s planned anti-capitalist protest in Salzburg.
Security chiefs fear that known British troublemakers will use violence at Sunday’s rally against the World Economic Forum summit — the next stop on the anarchists’ "Summer of Resistance".
Major Rudolf Gollia, a spokesman for the Austrian security authorities, said: "We will use guns if we have to."
The major said that the World Economic Forum meeting, which will begin on Sunday and will be attended by 600 delegates, will be protected by the largest security operation that Austria has seen in decades.
Italian ministers met protest groups yesterday in an attempt to prevent rioting at next month’s G8 summit in Genoa, which anarchists boast will be the climax of their campaign.
Officials in Rome concede there is nothing they can do to stop 500 British anarchists chartering a French train to take them to the meeting, but said that their journey would be halted long before they reached Genoa. The city station is to be closed before the Britons set off on what is being called the Anarchist Express.
A police blockade will stop the train and search the British contingent at Savona, the last main stop on the Ligurian coast before Genoa. British police will help to identify troublemakers, who will immediately be deported, the Italian authorities say.
Bona fide passengers will be allowed to proceed by bus, but will be kept well away from the area where the world leaders are meeting. Final arrangements are being made to stage the event at sea.
A combined force of more than 3,000 troops and police is in Genoa.
Last night it was Salzburg’s turn to be converted into a fortress as 5,000 police moved into army barracks and school gymnasiums, and prison cells were emptied in preparation for what Tony Blair condemned as the anarchists’ "travelling circus". Up to 25,000 are expected for Sunday’s rally.
Major Gollia said that officers would be armed, despite criticism of Swedish riot squads who shot three protesters at the recent European summit in Gothenburg.
A hard core of British anarchists who were in Gothenburg are thought to be heading for Salzburg, though their number is hard to predict.
Major Gollia said that he was not concerned about Austrian protesters. "It’s the troublemakers from abroad that are the unknown factor," he said. "We are liaising with colleagues in Britain to try to discover what they are planning here in Salzburg.
"We don’t want a repeat of what happened in Gothenburg, but we would shoot at protesters if other lives were endangered."
Austria is reimposing border controls with Germany and Italy to turn away militants, many of whom are thought to have been among the vanguard of violent protesters in Gothenburg.
The same militants are believed to be among those who caused violent disturbances at an anti-capitalist rally in Barcelona last weekend. The Salzburg rally, which will take place in front of a railway station, is being permitted so that a representative of the World Economic Forum can speak to the protesters. However, anarchists from the "Black Block", who are committed to violence, have vowed to disrupt the meeting.
Police believe that there are plans to rip up railway lines near the site of the demonstration. Building sites, which provide a ready supply of ammunition for rioters, have all been sealed.
The World Economic Forum’s Salzburg meeting is being held for central and east European leaders.
It will be attended by President Klestil of Austria as well as Presidents from several Eastern European countries — including Romania, Lithuania, Macedonia, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, Croatia, Bulgaria and Albania — and the Prime Minister of Serbia.
www.antiwef.org
www.infoshop.org
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See also:
http://www.austria.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=309&group=webcast
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