Hamburg G20 riots: Polish man becomes first charged
German police have been accused of caving to political pressure to secure convictions following the G20 riots in early July, after a Polish art student who took no part in the protests became the first man to be charged with any offense – more than a month after the riots took place.
The 24-year-old man from Warsaw, named only as Stanislaw B., has been charged with violations of weapons and explosives laws, as well as unlawful assembly. He was arrested at a Hamburg railway station and found carrying pepperspray, some firecrackers, and two marbles.
Read more: A look at left-wing radicalism in Europe after G20
Hamburg prosecutor Carsten Rinio says Stanislaw B. was detained an hour before a planned protest in central Hamburg, and that the objects found on him could, in that context, be defined as weapons. A prosecutor’s spokesman told DW that he was on his way to a protest in the city.
The man, who speaks no German, has been in custody in Hamburg since the G20, and his lawyer, Jonathan Burmeister, says state prosecutors clearly felt that time was running out to find charges to pin on the man.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
“Schanzenviertel” covered in debris
This part of town was the scene of escalating violence. That did not come as a surprise: The quarter is traditionally the hub of Hamburg’s leftist activists. It has been subject to gentrification, turning into a “hip” place to live and magnet for tourists.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
A night of devastation
Police regained control over the streets of Hamburg in the early hours of the morning.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Looting and rioting
Several shops were looted and damaged during the first day of protests.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Smoke bombs
Black block protesters were throwing flares at police from behind street baracades. It took several hours for police to really push back in the early hours of Saturday morning.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Fires were lit and shops looted
Fires were set in Hamburg streets and some cars were burned out.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Burning barricades
Protesters lit barricades on Friday evening. Throughout the city cars had been set on fire.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Violence took over as night fell
Cars were burned and barricades set alight as a violent mob stepped up its actions, sidelining the majority of mainly peaceful protesters.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Black Bloc
Police blamed anarchists with the so-called Black Bloc movement for much of the violence. Black Bloc protesters wear all black and cover their faces to avoid being identified.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Battle of G20 Hamburg
Riot police disperse crowds with water cannon vehicles on Friday.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Armored vehicles on the streets
Police use water against a woman after she climbed on top of an armoured carrier on Friday.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Chasing protesters
Police chased protesters up a hill to gain control of the streets.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
War zone
A picture published on social media shows smoke rising from the streets during protests on Friday.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Children among those affected
Violent protests turned several neighborhoods where children usually play into scenes from a warzone.
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Hamburg: G20 protests in pictures
Hamburg residents fed up
“I live here and am only popping out quickly to the Edeka supermarket,” reads the sign. The supermarket later responded on Twitter, saying it would provide delivery service.
Hitchhiking holiday
“The case is crazy,” Burmeister told DW. “There isn’t even an pressing suspicion of having committed a crime. He was arrested near a railway station. There wasn’t a demo happening there.”
“He was on his way through Hamburg – he wanted to hitchhike to Spain to go camping,” he added. “He had pepperspray on him to defend himself while sleeping outside – which he’s carried around with him for a long time. And the firecrackers are smaller than your smallest finger – someone gave them to him, and he thought they were fun. The two marbles were a souvenir from a glass-maker in England from an exchange program a few years ago. They’re very expensive.”
Read more: Berlin’s leftist scene under pressure after G20 violence
Police were criticized for escalating the violence during the two-day summit
Pressure to press charges
Burmeister, who said his client is “not in a good state,” is convinced that Stanislaw B.’s imprisonment and charges are down to the political attention the riots attracted in the aftermath of the attack.
“This can only be explained as politically motivated,” he added. “There are a thousand other reasons to assume this. He was poorly treated, he didn’t get a change of underwear, my letters weren’t passed on to him. There is clearly political pressure to scare these people away.”
Read more: After G20, Hamburg mayor says he is sorry
Burmeister also believes the state prosecutor has no real reason to keep his client in custody. “It’s a scandal that he’s in prison. Putting someone in investigative custody has to be proportionate – it’s the toughest censure we have in criminal investigations,” he said. “And the crimes he is being charged with are virtually petty offenses. My client has never come to the attention of police before – there’s absolutely no reason why they can’t just send him a letter summoning him to court. If he didn’t come, they could easily have him arrested in Poland.”
Read more: Germany asks EU for help following Hamburg G20 protests
In response to this, the prosecutor’s spokesman said that Stanislaw B.’s procedure had been unusually quick so far. “His court date is at the end of August – that would mean he had been in investigative custody for less than two months,” he said. “The prosecutor considers this proportionate, and the process has been carried out vey quickly – and the court clearly sees it the same way, since it upheld the investigative custody decision.”
Lukas Theune, a lawyer representing a number of left-wing activists, says that a lot of people have been put in investigative custody for very minor alleged crimes. “I’ve never heard of anyone being put into detention for a violation of the laws of assembly,” he said. “It’s affecting Stanislaw B. in a very crass way, but it affects a lot of other people in Hamburg too. Individuals are being punished for the events in Hamburg as a whole – that’s explicitly political reasoning.”
Hamburg prosecutors say they are currently pursuing 162 investigations in relation to the G20 riots, during which shops were plundered and several cars set on fire. Over 50 people were put in investigative custody at the time, though around a third of those have since been released.
Article source: http://www.dw.com/en/hamburg-g20-riots-polish-man-becomes-first-charged/a-40028143?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom