RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space
Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
 |  Subject: Leftist anarchist idiots in Berlin: Burning cars  Mon Aug 03, 2009 3:40 am | |
| THEY occur at a rate of nearly one a night, without warning or fanfare. By the time the police arrive, only the smoking wrecks remain: even the identifying badges – Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, VW – have often been completely obliterated by fire.
A city haunted by its extreme right-wing past, Berlin is in the throes of a renaissance of extremist, left-wing political activism – and torching cars, particularly expensive ones, has become the crime de rigeuer.
In the past six months, more than 170 cars have been destroyed by fire in Berlin, and police say at least 93 were politically motivated attacks.
Analysts say the perpetrators increasingly use independent political websites to pinpoint the attacks, claim responsibility and post their political messages. A mysterious, single page website, BrennendeAutos.de, shows the number of cars set alight and where, revealing clusters in ‘‘richer’’ areas or in suburbs where gentrification and intense redevelopment are taking place.
Demonstrations in Berlin have also become more violent. This year’s May Day protest degenerated into an ugly confrontation between left-wing activists and an increasingly frustrated police force, and ended with 21 police hurt and 102 arrests made. Last December a neo-Nazi rally in Lichtenberg in east Berlin sparked a clash with left-wing groups.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution said there had been a measurable increase in left-wing extremist action, including the targeting of police and the property of businesses perceived to be involved in military or ‘‘imperialist’’ activities. DHL, which is involved in military logistics for the German armed forces, has been a recent target.
‘‘It is not just anti-militarism we are seeing … it is anti-imperialism, a catalogue of anti-things, anti-fascism, anti-gentrification,’’ she told the Herald. ‘‘The people we are seeing are the so-called ‘autonoma’, people operating in groups without hierarchy, who are not well-organised, and so classical anarchy is in the background of their thinking.’’
Frank Millert, a spokesman for the Berlin police, said the number of politically motivated arson attacks had almost doubled in each of the past three years, with police cars among the targets.
‘‘The men and women who do this … do it in a way that makes it very difficult to find the evidence. It is hard to say if they have political motives like the Red Army Faction in the ’70s … some of this happens just in areas of Berlin where the suburbs are gentrifying and people are losing their apartments.’’
Since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 there has been increasingly vociferous opposition to the wave of redevelopment and gentrification that has transformed areas of east Berlin traditionally occupied by artists into smart apartments and commercial centres.
The phenomenon has also sparked a schism between the police, the left-leaning Mayor, Klaus Wowereit, and the conservative national government amid claims that law enforcement agencies treat left-wing political crimes with less rigour than those of the extreme right.
The head of the German Police Union, Rainer Wendt, said authorities were not doing enough to stymie the rise in left-wing violence.
‘‘The extreme left-wing groups seem to be looking far more conspiratorial and increasingly militant. We are extremely concerned,’’ he said. The fight against right-wing extremism – as well as Islamic terrorism – had absorbed vital resources: ‘‘We need to find a balance.’’
LNK
_________________
Anarcho Capitalists Retail , OZschwitz Downunder BoutiqueAnarcho-Capitalists,AnCaps Forum,Anti-State,Anti-Statist,Inalienable Rights Defenders,Non-Aggression Principle,Non-Initiation of Force Principle,Rothbardians,Anarchist,Capitalist,objectivism,Ayn Rand,Anarcho-Capitalism,Anarcho-Capitalist,politics,libertarianism,Ancap Forum,Anarchist Forum,Vulgar Libertarians,Hippies of The Right,Forum for Anarcho-Capitalist,Forum for Anarcho-Capitalists,Forum for AnCap,Forum for AnCaps,Libertarian,Anarcho-Objectivist,Freedom, Laissez Faire, Free Trade, Black Market, Randroid, Randroids, Rothbardian, AynArchist, Anarcho-Capitalist Forum, Anarchism, Anarchy, Free Market Anarchism, Free Market Anarchy, Market Anarchy
 |
|
