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KShortly after 6 am, the group of up to 200 opponents to the G-20 summit departed. It was July 7, 2017, the first day of the summit in Hamburg. The group left the protest camp in the Volkspark and went through an industrial park. According to the prosecution, it is said that they were dressed in dark clothes “mostly uniform” and masked. They are said to have crushed stones from a construction site. Then they continued to Rondenbarg Street. After they had already passed a police unit in Schleswig-Holstein and allegedly had stones thrown at them, they came across a unit of the federal police. Again, stones and pyrotechnics flew towards the officers. A video of the mission shows the scene. Officials attacked, opponents of the summit tried to flee. A fence collapsed under the weight of several activists and some were injured. 59 people were arrested and the police found steel cables, stones, pyrotechnics and fire accelerator spray on them.
The G-20 summit was more than three years ago and the protests continue to worry Hamburg. Two street names were always central. On the one hand, the Elbchaussee, where a mob could riot for minutes without hindrance, was a disaster for the security forces. On the other hand, the Rondenbarg, where the access of the police was considered a success. However, the effort stirred minds, proportionality was questioned, and some did not even want to see the flying stones in the video. This is how the Rondenbarg became famous in Hamburg. A test of the deployment is now eagerly awaited.
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As of this Thursday, five defendants who were allegedly present at the Rondenbarg march will be held accountable to the large juvenile court of the Hamburg Regional Court. The Public Ministry accuses them of being in solidarity with other participants for acts of violence against people and acts perpetrated during the march. They are charged with a serious disturbance of public order in the act of assaulting law enforcement officers in a particularly serious case, as well as attempting to cause dangerous bodily harm. Since the three women and the two men were then 16 and 17 years old, the public is not allowed. In reality, the proceedings are directed against 19 defendants, but due to crown restrictions, such a large hearing is not possible. Investigations began immediately after the summit.
The police created a special “Black Block” commission, which was dissolved in late September 2018. Up to 180 officials had so far identified 750 suspects and initiated more than 3,400 preliminary investigations. Then a smaller investigative team took over the job, but it was long since transferred to the “day-to-day organization” at the State Criminal Police Office. The Public Ministry informed the FAZ that 2,627 preliminary inquiries and 449 accusations had been carried out. As of July 2019, the Regional Superior Court had already counted 92 prison sentences, nine of them without parole. In relation to the Rondenbarg alone, the court has eight charges against 73 defendants. The court said it had not yet been determined when further negotiations would take place and that all charges should be admitted.
In the new process, it will be particularly interesting if the arguments of the prosecution can convince the court. Because the Public Ministry accuses the accused of “not acting independently of the violence,” so it is not that they themselves threw stones or firecrackers. Rather, the prosecutor considers them “violent criminals inside an elevator.” According to a statement from the court, the defendants knew the stones and fireworks they were carrying, approved their use against police officers and property, and made their own contributions by marching in closed formation. “Only when they appeared alongside a uniform appearance did they give violent offenders a sense of security and strength and provide protection against identification and intervention by third parties.”
In addition to two arrest decisions of the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, in which the urgent suspicion was affirmed, although it was not proven that the accused had committed a personal act of violence, a decision of the Federal Court of Justice of May 2019 is important for the prosecutor: the court had decided in a trial involving soccer hooligans. that he does not have to have committed any act of violence within the group to be guilty of a breach of public order. “Marching ostentatiously” to the inspection site may be sufficient.
But it should also be exciting outside of the courtroom. The solidarity rallies are registered for Thursday and Saturday. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution informed the FAZ that much of the left-wing extremist scene in Hamburg and throughout Germany were taking the start of the process as an opportunity to mobilize for Saturday’s meeting. “Anyone who participates in this meeting is becoming common with the violent left extremists,” warns the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. “The demonstration is an example of how an issue can unite the generally very heterogeneous left extremist spectrum, characterized by clear ideological contradictions and conflicts, and mobilize for a joint agitation against the free democratic base order.” Around 1500 participants are expected from all over the country. The police announced that both events would be accompanied by a larger contingent of emergency services.
