Daily Archives: February 20, 2011

German police officers working undercover in other countries as left-wing anarchists


thelocal.de | Feb 19, 2011

The German police force has admitted sending undercover officers to other countries, including Scotland, during a parliamentary hearing into the controversial deployment of an undercover British policeman in Germany.

Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that MPs sitting in a confidential meeting of a parliamentary interior affairs committee were told at the end of last month that undercover German police officers were routinely sent abroad to infiltrate suspect groups.

The hearing was prompted by the revelation that British undercover police officer Mark Kennedy had been working in Germany, as well as in other countries, infiltrating environmental and leftist protest groups.

The story caused a scandal as it emerged that he had been undercover for years, posing as an activist called Mark Stone, becoming heavily involved in protests and even pursuing several sexual relationships.

Jörg Zierke, head of Germany’s federal criminal police, told the committee that five undercover German police officers had been sent to the protests at the 2005 G8 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland.

There they had been under the command of the British National Public Order Intelligence Unit, said Zierke.

Different forces helped each other “accompanying the scene in the relevant countries,” Zierke was quoted as saying in meeting notes which were marked “for official use only.”

Those being watched would include what he called “Euro anarchists, militant left-extremists and terrorists.”

One could only take on organised and conspiratorial international networks when one worked “as internationally and conspiratorially” as they did, he said.

Neo-Nazis and left-wing protesters fill a tense Dresden

thelocal.de | Feb 19, 2011

Thousands of anti-fascists and neo-Nazis as well as police officers trying to keep them apart filled Dresden’s city centre on Saturday after organisers of three neo-Nazi demonstrations were given the judicial go-ahead to march.

Up to 6,000 neo-Nazis are expected to take part in the marches through the city, while up to 20,000 anti-Nazi protestors are also expected. Last weekend 17,000 Dresden residents formed a human chain to show their disdain for the far right.

Fighting had already broken out between demonstrators and police by lunchtime on Saturday, with the police using pepper spray and a water cannon. Some witnesses said demonstrators threw fireworks at the police.

A police spokesman said thousands of left-wing anti-fascists were streaming into the city, some of whom could be prepared to use violence.

Politicians attending the anti-Nazi demonstration included Wolfgang Thierse, deputy parliamentary president. “It must proceed absolutely peacefully,” he said, calling for protesters to remain calm.

Thierse, a member of the Social Democratic Party, was joined by Saxony-Anhalt Interior Minister Holger Hövelmann, a party colleague, and fellow Deputy Parliamentary President Katrin Göring Eckardt from the Green Party as well as Left Party member Petra Pau.